1993－1994

Location: Beijing, China

Medium: Performance, mixed media installation / Ink and live pigs

When this work was initially performed in Beijing, there was an unexpected and surprising dynamic between the spectators and the spectacle. Before the event, there was concern that, once confronted with the unfamiliar cultural environment of the exhibition hall, the pigs would be too nervous to perform their act. Albeit, the result was just the opposite: the pigs remained unfazed, blithely ignoring their human onlookers and pursuing their lovemaking with great gusto. Instead, it was the audience that found themself in an embarrassing position. What was ultimately revealed was not a sense of discomfort or displacement on the part of the pigs, but rather their limitations and inability to adapt to the human audience. 

Xu Bing states, “These two creatures, devoid of human consciousness, yet carrying on their bodies the marks of human civilization, engage in the most primal form of 'social intercourse.' The absolute directness of this undertaking produces a result that is both unthinkable and worth thinking about. In watching the behavior of the two pigs, we are led to reflect on human behavior.'' To the artist, the process of caring for and working with the pigs constitutes ''a kind of ongoing sociological experiment, touching [upon] a myriad of issues.'' 

1995

Materials: Mixed media installation; silkworm and various objects, including books, laptop computer, papers and photographs

In this installation, hundreds of live silkworms spin their silk over a collection of everyday objects, including books, photographs, even a laptop computer. From day to day, as the show unfolds, the silk covering the objects thickens, consuming and obscuring them from sight as the worms continue to spin silk. The artist states that he chose to work with silkworms because of their “pronounced cultural connotation and their quality of natural transformation” as well as their easability to work with.