An enlightening art journey with Xubing in Chengdu

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When I was in Tianfu Art Park, I was lucky to run into the exhibition by Xu Bing, namely “Where There Is a Question, There Is ___”.

It was held at Chengdu Art Museum (Hall B) from December 20, 2024, to May 30, 2025, and presented over 80 representative works spanning more than 50 years of Xu Bing’s career.

This large-scale solo show explores Xu Bing’s enduring inquiry into language, culture, and society, inviting viewers to actively engage with open-ended questions rather than seek fixed answers. The prologue he wrote in the beginning section of the exhibition was enlightening (as shown in the last pic here).

The exhibition is divided into seven thematic sections—each titled with a provocative question such as “Do We Still Need to Sketch?”, “Can Words Be This Excessive?”, and “Can Art Reach the Skies?”. It encourages reflection on the boundaries of contemporary art.

Highlights include the monumental installation Phoenix, which spans 31 meters and pays tribute to the dignity of labor, as well as the iconic Book from the Sky, which uses unreadable pseudo-characters to challenge our assumptions about communication and knowledge.

This marks Xu Bing’s first major solo exhibition in Southwest China and stands as a landmark event for Chengdu's contemporary art scene.

Post by Shih Yuin Chew | Jun 1, 2025