Xu Bing - Lecture

The Xu Bing lecture was very interesting. It was the first lecture which I have attended where there was a translator present. The majority of the lecture was given in Chinese.  Having been somewhat involved with Xu Bing tobacco project from the beginning, I was aware of many of the things they were preparing to do and what he would talk about somewhat in the lecture.  I wasn’t, however, as familiar with some of the earlier projects.  I would consider Xu Bing’s work to be conceptual researched fine art.  The majority of his projects involve a lot of people and take much planning and orchestration.   The project that I am really drawn to is Book from the Ground. In this series Xu has collected and produced many, many icons with the idea that icons  could “treat the reader equally regardless of education and culture.”    What informs the readers ability to translate the icons is their cultural experiences.  Xu commented that “traditional life no longer exists, but we still use traditional language.”    Having gotten back from Germany a few months ago, I realized how difficult it was for me to communicate with my limited knowledge of the language.  I think it’s a great idea to try to make a universal language that everyone can understand.  As well as making books using this method, Xu Bing created software that would translate from English to icons or from Chinese to icons. If the items that were picked had the same meaning, the icon would be the same.  In this way two foreigners were able to communicate without having to learn the traditional language of the other speaker.  The idea of practical art or art that has more use than just to be enjoyed is very interesting.

Questions:

1.  What's is your primary goal each time you revisit an old project?

I think that repeating projects is rather natural.  I find that in my own work I often photograph a scene repetitively with different lighting conditions and different angles.  I think it has to do with having a complete understanding in what I engage with.    Xu Bing didn’t address this exactly, but I believe his intentions were to do a series of the tobacco projects, and, in doing so, he will explore tobacco as a material.

2.  Has tobacco had an impact on your life?

I believe to Xu Bing the Tobacco project is about the cultural influence with the graphics and the commercial packaging that was involved.  As far as a real personal impact, I don’t believe that was the case.