2003—ongoing

Mixed media: software, works on paper

Xu Bing has been undertaking his Book from the Ground project since 2003. The artist first compiled symbols drawn from the public sphere and wrote a book using only these signs. The book is written such that any reader, regardless of cultural background or level of education, can read it. As long as one exists within contemporary society, one can interpret this book. Because of the universality of its visual signification, it can be published anywhere without translation. For the Book fom the Ground installation, Xu Bing recreated his studio's working environment and brought some materials to the exhibition space, implying that this is a never-ending project in progress. 

2003—ongoing

Xu Bing has been undertaking his Book from the Ground project since 2003. The artist first compiled symbols drawn from the public sphere and wrote a book using only these signs. The book is written in a way that any reader, regardless of his or her cultural or educational background, can understand. As long as one lives within the contemporary society, he or she will be able to interpret the book. Due to the universality of its visual language, it could be published anywhere without translation. For the Book from the Ground installation, Xu Bing recreated his studio's working environment and brought some materials to the exhibition space, implying that this is a never-ending project in progress. Xu Bing’s studio also made a character database software that corresponds to the language of the book. Users can enter words either in English or in Chinese, and the program will translate them into Xu Bing's lexicon of signs. It thus serves as an intermediary form of communication and exchange between the two languages. As personal computer and the internet become increasingly integrated into daily life, the lexicon of digital icons grows accordingly, and the symbolic language of Book from the Ground has been further updated, augmented, and complicated. In response to his own Book from the Sky, a work dated 30 years earlier whose language is illegible to anyone, Book from the Ground is legible to all. It is an expression of Xu Bing’s long-standing vision of a universal language.

Book From the Ground: From Point to Point can be purchased from various bookstores and websites. 

2003

ABS plastics, stainless steel, electronic components

49 × 42 × 6.5 cm

When Xu Bing began making artwork while living in the West, he discovered that the work of the contemporary artist was not unlike scientific discovery—they both require originality and must benefit humanity. In 2003, Xu Bing designed the interactive installation Ergo Dynamic Desktop. The Chinese title, “Slow-motion Desktop,” describes how the computer’s machine configuration is based on slow-movement ergonomics. The computer and keyboard can only move very slowly in a single direction. When working on this desktop, the user is unwittingly undergoing a slow-motion bodily and visual massage, lowering the risk of computer-related injury. More than an artwork, Ergo Dynamic Desktop is a patented invention for alleviating bodily and visual fatigue.

2003

Materials: Metal cages, motion sensors, fake birds

Location: Beijing, China

2003

Materials: glass, air

Air Memorial is a glass bubble containing air from Beijing during the height of the SARS epidemic. On the surface of the capsule is inscribed, “Beijing Air, April 29, 2003,” one of the days that the greatest number of SARS related death were reported in Beijing.

2003

Medium: Mixed media installation

Location: New South Wales Museum, Sydney, Australia

A work that had been in Xu Bing's mind for some time, "Landscript" was only realized when Xu found a location appropriate to the piece in the space and setting of the New South Wales Museum in Australia. On the large plate-glass windows of the museum lobby, Xu wrote out an image of the landscape visible through them by using Chinese characters to represent the individual landscape elements: for example, a clump of trees was represented by a clump of the Chinese character for tree. When the viewer stood on a marked point on the floor the calligraphy and the objects seen through the window overlapped, resulting in a conflation of text and objects. Furthermore, the relationship between the viewer, the window and the landscape underwent constant shifts according to the viewer's position in the gallery. By compelling the audience to engage with the landscape outside the gallery, this work effectively extended the museum space beyond the building's walls and into the distance. This work is linked to Xu's interest in the idea of limning nature, and to his exploration of the way humans use signs to represent the material world.