As the representative work of the 1985 Fine Arts New Wave, Xu Bing’s, Book from the Sky, aka. An Analyzed Reflection of the World: The Final Volume of the Century, made between 1987 and 1991, incorporates long scrolls and four volumes of books with 604 pages, filled with about 4000 entirely meaningless glyphs. Xu Bing designs them to make no sense, whereas in the form of Song and Ming style, representing the orthodoxy of Chinese culture. Since firstly publicly exhibited in 1988, the installation has triggered many discussions at home and abroad. This essay would firstly discuss how Book from the Sky challenges Chinese traditions in a seemingly traditional, meanwhile avant-garde way, and possibly makes linguistic, cultural and political stances. Then it will move to evaluate its effectiveness and limits in doing so. Finally, a conclusion would be given.
Considered with the long Chinese history, where literary legacy has always been respected as the sign of civilization and superiority, Book from the Sky is regarded as a revelation of the deficiency of Chinese traditional culture, by contradicting the forms showing the tendency to idolize the ancients, with the meaningless contents, as implied by its Chinese name, also meaning Nonsense Writing. Emphasizing “the process of completing this …show more content…
Limitations lie in his inability of completely transcending the existing language system and removing meanings, because of its adherence with traditional structure. However, the juxtaposition and contradiction between the present, individual, non-sense writing, and the historical, official, meticulous forms, are still marvelous, leaving spacious room for the audiences to interpret the
Considered with the long Chinese history, where literary legacy has always been respected as the sign of civilization and superiority, Book from the Sky is regarded as a revelation of the deficiency of Chinese traditional culture, by contradicting the forms showing the tendency to idolize the ancients, with the meaningless contents, as implied by its Chinese name, also meaning Nonsense Writing. Emphasizing “the process of completing this …show more content…
Limitations lie in his inability of completely transcending the existing language system and removing meanings, because of its adherence with traditional structure. However, the juxtaposition and contradiction between the present, individual, non-sense writing, and the historical, official, meticulous forms, are still marvelous, leaving spacious room for the audiences to interpret the