Xu Bing Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Xu Bing
A Disruptor of Language: The Life and Art of Xu Bing Xu Bing, born in Chongqing, China, in 1955, is a name synonymous with innovation and intellectual rigor within the landscape of contemporary art. His journey, deeply intertwined with the tumultuous socio-political climate of 20th and 21st century China, has led him to become one of the most internationally recognized artists emerging from the country. Growing up in Beijing as the son
of a professor at Peking University, Xu’s early life was marked by both intellectual stimulation and the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. This period, where he was sent to the countryside for re-education between 1975 and 1977, proved formative, instilling within him a profound awareness of language as a tool of power and control—a theme that would become central to his artistic practice. Returning to Beijing, Xu formally began hi…