When Wu Hung curated “Shu: Reinventing Books in Chinese Contemporary Art” at China Institute in New York, he created the show in two parts. The first, “Reimagining Tradition,” focuses on artists’ desire to become part of the strong tradition of books in China. The second, “Negotiating History and Memory,” concentrates on artists’ personal experience of recent Chinese history, namely the Cultural Revolution, during which so many books were rewritten, forbidden and destroyed.
Xu Bing’s work The Book From the Sky; is one of the central and most important pieces of the exhibition. It speaks to the tradition of the book in China as well as the experience of the Cultural Revolution, when the meaning of texts was manipulated to absurdity.
In The Book From the Sky, Xu Bing combines hundreds of books and scrolls that use traditional printing techniques but contain nonsense characters — i.e., characters that "look" Chinese but that don’t actually exist in Chinese. The work creates anxiety in the viewer as they "read" it as a familiar language, but one where meaning is impenetrable. Many Chinese speakers confess to having doubts in their own cognitive process when viewing the work, as Xu Bing’s books, presented and printed in such a traditional manner do not cause any suspicion at first glance.
In this conversation between Xu Bing and Wu Hung, the artist talks about his generation’s difficult relationship to books.
Xu Bing first fell in love with books at the library where his mother worked. He was young though, and could only appreciate them for the texture of paper, binding and pictures. Once he learned to read, China was in the midst of the Cultural Revolution and the only book available was Mao’s Little Red Book. Others were forbidden and destroyed.
When the Cultural Revolution ended, formerly forbidden books were reprinted and a generation hungry for information stuffed themselves. As Xu Bing says though, it was too much. They were unable to “digest†the works properly.
Wu Hung structures this dialogue around two pieces by Xu Bing The Book From the Sky and Silkworm Egg Book.
Philip Tinari, an independent scholar, writer, curator acts as atranslator.
Shu: Reinventing Books in Chinese Contemporary Art,curated by Wu Hung, was on view from September 28, 2006 – February 24, 2007 at China Institute, 125 East 65th Street, New York; (212) 744-8181.
