A group of young artists and designers from all over the world will stage a brand new art exhibition at the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in the Chinese Overseas Town (OCT) from April 30 to May 8.

Organizers said it would be the first art event of its kind on the Chinese mainland.

Shenzhen is the first stop of the exhibition, which will move to Shanghai in May and to Beijing in June.

Rather than focusing on a particular format or medium, the exhibition will gather more than 200 cross-media art works, ranging from print graphics to web design, fashion, animation, video, architecture, sculpture, multi-media installations and sound art.

The exhibition will have more than 80 participating artists and designers from the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe.

Among them, 80 percent are of Chinese background, and half are among the new generation of artists and designers on the Chinese mainland. The average age of all the artists is 25.

The exhibition design is based on the concept of displaying and embedding artwork of various media in the context of a living environment.

It is designed by the Guangzhou-based artist and art teacher Jiang Jun, 31, who has been focusing on urban research and experimentation, exploring the influence of urban dynamics on design in recent years.

To give the exhibition an international scope, organizers have also invited artists from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, and the United States.

Besides exhibitions in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai, organizers will have internationally renowned designers as guest speakers presenting their latest works.

The exhibition will also feature a sound art performance on the opening day in each city.

Lin Zhiying, Zhong Minjie and Lin Chin-sung, three experimental musicians from Hong Kong will be also invited to attend the sound performance in the city April 30.

The exhibition has four curators including the Guangzhou based Ou Ning, Sydney-based Jiang Jian, Shanghai-based Ji Ji and United States-based Qian Qian.

Asked about the meaning behind the name Get it louder, Ou Ning said this exhibition was different from the other ones, which were run under the traditional system of art museums.

"The Get It Louder exhibition is a self-initiated project, curated by the designers themselves. It's a cultural symbol of the new generation," said 36-year-old Ou.

"Design should get involved into everyone's daily life in its own right. The interaction between life and design is a necessity. We hope the exhibition can make the loudest noise and have greatest influence possible," he said.

"All in all, it's a passionate and lively party, a noise made on purpose," he stressed.

"Different from the first and second generation of Chinese designers, the third generation designers today grow up in the internet era," said Jiang Jian, who was born in Guiyang in 1975 and is now working in Sydney to explore contemporary visual communications.

"Most of them have the experience of studying and working abroad. They are technically proficient and have broad vision. Their identities as designers begin to diversify," Jiang said.

"It's the third generation that the Get It Louder exhibition calls together and the exhibition attempts to put them in China's modern design history, and then evaluates their status and influence," he said.

Editor: Catherine