A Book From the Sky...
an art installation
by Xu Bing
Curated and Designed by Zheng Hu
at the University Art Museum, University at Albany
In the continual trauma that is 'modernity,' the question that returns to haunt the Chinese intellectual is that of the continuity and (re)production of Chinese culture.... How is culture -- in ruins -- to be passed on, by whom, and with what means.
--Rey Chow
A Book from the Sky was on view at the University Art Museum last winter. The artist is currently working on new projects for Duke University and the Miro Foundation in Spain. The piece consists of over 400 books beautifully printed and bound in Chinese classic tradition and 800 feet of scripts in the form of rice paper banners and wall hangings. The installation space is approximately 80 ft by 60 ft by 38 ft.
Xu Bing spent three years in isolation and created over four thousand new Chinese characters which carry no sound or meaning. These characters, however, appear unmistakably Chinese. Every "nonsense" character was then carve on a wood block, which were to be used as types in printing the books and banners.
All the scripts on the banners and wall hangings were printed at Dale Bradley Studio of the Contemporary Artist Center, North Adams, Mass