The exhibition opened Sept. 7 and features large-scale calligraphic works by the artist alongside an instructional classroom in which visitors can learn how to recreate Xu’s own method of writing English words that resemble Chinese calligraphic characters, which he calls “square words.”
As visitors to the exhibit’s instructional classroom attempt to recognize and use this new, “Chinese” way of writing English, some of the thinking patterns ingrained in them since they learned to read will be challenged.
“The order [of the characters] is just like Chinese,” Bing said. “From left to right, from top to bottom, from outside to inside.” He describes the exhibit as “kind of like an art show and an education program,” and hopes that the interactive, interdisciplinary quality of the work will help it to reach beyond the world of art and museum galleries.
Bing will also donate Reflections While Reading, one of the works in the exhibition, to Columabia’s C.V. Starr East Asian Library, where it will be on public display after the show closes.
Square Word Calligraphy Classroom remains on display through Oct. 22. The Wallach Art Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public.