A Book from the Sky
Xu Bing. Beijing, China. 1987-1991 C.E. Mixed-media installation
The book's characters were carved into individual pieces of movable type made from pear wood, in a style slightly squatter than that of Song typefaces.
Theme:
Value of traditional culture in modern society; Print media and mass production
Form:
Columns of Chinese surround the room; volumes hand bound in the form of traditional Chinese book art; made with movable type (non-elitist); books on floor looks like waves, banners on ceiling looks like skies, panels on walls look like landscapes
Function:
To take traditional values of elitist Chinese ink landscape paintings (usually had subtle political messages) and put it into a non-elitist modern art that mimics landscape through text that means nothing
Content:
Bing invented 1000s of new characters - uses some real components and some invented to create new characters - looks authentic - no solid meaning
Context:
Grew up in Cultural Rev - intellectuals was vilified - everything about the state (Communism); sent to the country side to make banners by hand - mix of contemporary and traditional; trained for propaganda; created in time that W literature flooded China after Mao Zedong's death
