Language both serves as a point of commonality and a point of confusion. It holds the power to bring people together, generating a common understanding for those who have access to the meaning of its words. For those who do not, language then serves to confuse and divide, the trains of communication breaks down as people struggle to decipher the sounds of the people and words in front of them. The understanding of language is not only isolated to a particular geographical location but also to a person’s cultural and educational background. Members within the same society still face obstacles accessing the same language, hence losing opportunities for mutual understanding and partnership.
World-renowned Chinese artist, Xu Bing, takes this idea up in his book entitled Book from the Ground: from point to point, in which he moves to showcase the universality of language. In an ever-growing digital age, our means of communication have now be broken down to symbols, icons and to easily identified pictographs that can be speedily and accurately replied to. Xu Bing uses this concept of rapid technological advances to create a language of symbols and icons. He then uses these familiar and well-known symbols to create “a readable story without words recording 24 hours in a day of the life of a typical urban white-collar worker.” The thematic content of the story is reflective of his desire for universality. The majority of contemporary society can relate to ideas of a nine to five job, a search for meaningful relationships, and the nature of urbanity and mundanity. The story begins with the protagonist waking up and follows, in detail, every decision he makes throughout his day. The work is clear and satirical, but most of all, it is relatable. This comes from the shared understanding of this universal visual language.
Book from the Ground: from point to point first began as a project in 2003, where the artist complied symbols from the public sphere to narrate this book. Using his complied data and a software program engineered by his studio, the artist created an exhibition for the public to interact with the work without using the conventional sense of conversing. The program allowed viewers to translate words of either English or Chinese into his language of symbols and icons. The project is one that is ongoing to reflect the continuous advancement of technology. In 2013,10 years after its beginnings, Xu Bing made this book to showcase how transcendent language can be through visual imagery.
Works Cited
Xu, Bing. Book from the Ground : From Point to Point. Massachusetts, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 2013
Additional Resources
Artist Website : http://www.xubing.com
Book from the Ground by
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