2015-

Medium: Clothing label and programming writing

Dimension：Each piece 35.7 x 26.3 cm x 12

                     Outside packing 41 × 28.5 × 3.5 cm

Exhibition：Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, 2021-2022. TOKYO Gallery + BTAP, Beijing, 2021. 

Since 2015, Xu Bing has collected tens of thousands of clothing brand labels from small private enterprises. These labels reflect the history of their entrepreneurship, development, bottlenecks, conversions, and acquisitions when put together. Meanwhile, we can also consider the brand name as inherited with people’s expectations and aspirations for their future. We develop a “poem writing software” particularly for this project. The computer program searches for appropriate words and sentences among fashion label tags to create a “Seven-Character Poem，” then later compiled into the collection. It is also an advancement in the creation of an “artist book.”

Materials: Benches made with salvaged Deer Isle granite,

                 Text from a Poem by Li She (c. 806, C.E.),

                  Caved in Square Word Calligraphy

Location: Forsyth Plaza, Chinatown, New York.

Materials: Natural debris attached to frosted glass panel

2015

Exhibition Location: West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, 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.

2015

Materials: Natural debris attached to frosted glass panel, 340 x 1680cm

Location: Three and One Thirds, Kylin Contemporary Center of Art, 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.

2015

Materials: Recycled construction materials

Male Phoenix: 31 (L) x 7.2 (W) x 6.3 (H) meter

Female Phoenix: 30 (L) x 8.6 (W) x 4.7 (H) meter

Location: The 56th Venice Biennale, Theme Exhibition, All World's future, Curated by Okwui Enwezor, Arsenale, Venice, Italy