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  • ARTIST BOOKS
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    • Landscript
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    • Ergo Dynamic Desktop
    • The Well of Truth
    • The Glassy Surface of a Lake
    • Bird Language
    • Excuse Me Sir, Can You Tell Me How to Ge...
    • The Foolish Old Man Who Tried to Remove ...
    • Body Outside of Body
    • Cultural Negotiations
    • Brailliterate
    • Post Testament
    • A, B, C...
    • Big Tire
    • Air Memorial
    • Wild Zebra
    • Panda Zoo
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PROJECTS
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  • Book from the Ground Pop-up Book (2014 E...
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  • 卫星上的湖泊
  • Artificial Intelligence Infinite Film (A...
  • The Genetics of Reading Image
  • Gravitational Arena
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  • "Xu Bing Tianshu" Rocket Crater
  • A Case Study of Transference: Times Over...
  • Dragonfly Eyes
  • Phoenix
  • Stone Path
  • Forest Project
  • Background Story
  • Book from the Ground
  • Living Word
  • Book from the Sky
  • Square Word Calligraphy
  • Square Word Calligraphy Classroom
  • Travelling to the Wonderland
  • The Character of Characters
  • Where Does the Dust Itself Collect?
  • Landscript
  • Art for the People
  • American Silkworm Series
  • Cultural Animal
  • Purple Breeze Comes from the East
  • The Tide's Story
  • A Consideration of Golden Apples
  • Excuse Me Sir, Can You Tell Me How to Ge...
  • Telephone
  • Cultural Negotiations
  • Five Series of Repetitions
  • A, B, C...
  • Air Memorial
  • Tobacco Project III: Richmond
  • Tobacco Project II: Shanghai
  • Tobacco Project I: Durham
  • Monkeys Grasp for the Moon
......
Back Home

Phoenix

PHOTO|VIDEO

sample.jpg

Male Feng, MASS MoCA, 2012


2008-2016

The magnificent installation of Xu Bing's Phoenix, a pair of two Chinese phoenixes (feng and huang), consists of thousands of abandoned materials and workers' tools that Xu Bing collected from construction sites in Beijing. While fenghuang is traditionally associated with rebirth after suffering and rising from ash, Xu Bing's Phoenix can be seen to signify the cycle of the painstaking development and renewal  inherent in the process of urbanization. Furthermore, Phoenix recognizes the efforts of ordinary workers and draws attention to urban topics such as environmental crises and labor conditions.


When Phoenix traveled to Shanghai (2010), MASS MoCA (2012), New York (2014), and the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), visitors from all over the world were not only impressed by the large-scale splendor of the two birds, but also deeply moved by the mélange of scars and hopes they carried.

ANIMALS INSTALLATION

Series

  • Bronze  Phoenix

    2016
  • Phoenix  2015

    2015
  • Phoenix  Project

    2008-2010

Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Title of the scroll: Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Work in progess

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

Details of Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll

woodblock

woodblock

woodblock

Xu Bing working on Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll, Beijing, 2010

Work in progress

Mustard Seed Garden Manual

PHOTO|VIDEO

2010


Materials: Woodblock print mounted as a handscroll, ink on paper


"I created this work upon an invitation from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. By cutting, reorganizing, and printing motifs from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting (1679), I created a handscroll version of the classic manual. I believe that a core characteristic of Chinese painting is its schematized nature, which is reflected in classic literature, theatrical expression, and various methods of social production. The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting is a dictionary of signs for representing the myriad things of the world. Through The Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll, I attempt to investigate and reveal the relation between the Chinese way of thinking and the semiotic and schematized nature of Chinese culture."

                   -- Xu Bing, 2010


PRINTMAKING CHARACTER

Background Story 6

Background Story 6,New York, 2010

Background Story 6,New York, 2010

PHOTO|VIDEO

2010


Materials:Natural debris attached to frosted glass panel

Location:Dead or Alive, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA


"In 2004, I was installing an exhibition at the East Asian Art Museum in Germany. During the Second World War, 90 percent of the collection was moved to the former Soviet Union by the Soviet Red Army. Only some photos of the lost artwork are left. I hope to use the large glass showcases surrounding the existing space to create a new work that combines local history and my cultural background. I saw the potted plants behind the frosted glass wall in the office area of the airport during a connecting flight, which looked like a smudged Chinese painting. At this time, I thought of the large glass cabinets of the museum and the missing art pieces and got the inspiration for Background Story."

- Xu Bing

INSTALLATION

Background Story 5

Background Story 5,Beijing,2010

Background Story 5,Beijing,2010

PHOTO|VIDEO

2010


Materials: Light box and natural debris, 120 x 780cm

Location: Today Art Museum, Beijing, China


"In 2004, I was installing an exhibition at the East Asian Art Museum in Germany. During the Second World War, 90 percent of the collection was moved to the former Soviet Union by the Soviet Red Army. Only some photos of the lost artwork are left. I hope to use the large glass showcases surrounding the existing space to create a new work that combines local history and my cultural background. I saw the potted plants behind the frosted glass wall in the office area of the airport during a connecting flight, which looked like a smudged Chinese painting. At this time, I thought of the large glass cabinets of the museum and the missing art pieces and got the inspiration for Background Story."

- Xu Bing

INSTALLATION

Phoenix Project

Phoenix, Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2010

Phoenix, Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2010

Phoenix, Shanghai, 2010

Phoenix, MASS MoCA Museum, 2012

Phoenix, MASS MoCA Museum, 2012

The body of Female Huang, MASS MoCA, 2012

The hand of Male Feng, MASS MoCA, 2012

Phoenix, The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, 2014

Documentary of Phoenix

PHOTO|VIDEO

Materials: construction debris, light emitting diodes

Dimension: 27 and 28 meters in length, 8 meters in width

20180106035142_7251.jpg


20180106035154_3211.jpg

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Today Art Museum, Beijing, China,2010

20180406225424_1257.jpg

Baogang Stage, Expo 2010 Shanghai, China,2010

sample.jpg

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts, USA,2012

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The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, New York, USA,2014

ANIMALS INSTALLATION