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The Word Play of Xu Bing Trivia Quiz

Xu Bing, a Chinese expatriate, has spent two decades exploring words, language, and the way they relate to human perceptions of our surroundings. What do you know about his art?

A multiple-choice quiz by CellarDoor. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
CellarDoor

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
57,340

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
355

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Born in China in 1955, Xu Bing was forced to move to the United States in the face of criticism from government officials. Which of his works in particular did they single out as 'elitist' and 'incomprehensible'? Hint

'The Living Word'

'Landscript'

'Book from the Sky'

'ABC . . .'

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Question 2 of 10

2. In what year did Xu Bing come to the American Midwest? Hint

1989

1992

1991

1990

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Question 3 of 10

3. Xu Bing had some trouble adjusting to America, and particularly to the English language. Which of these works is a set of ceramic blocks of type, each one representing an English letter with one or more Chinese characters? Hint

'Book from the Sky'

'The Living Word'

'ABC'

'Monkeys Grasp for the Moon'

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Question 4 of 10

4. The sculpture 'Monkeys Grasp for the Moon' involves several interlocking primate shapes, joined in a chain to reach for a reflecting pool just below their reach. What is special about these 'monkeys'? Hint

Each 'monkey' is actually text meaning 'monkey'

Each 'monkey' is dressed in a spacesuit.

Each monkey is actually a political caricature.

Each 'monkey' is actually a ceramic block of type.

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Question 5 of 10

5. Intrigued as always by the relationship between word and meaning, Xu Bing completed in 2001 a project in which he paints landscapes composed of descriptive ideograms. What is the name of this project? Hint

'The Living Word'

'Book from the Sky'

'ABC . . .'

'Landscript'

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Question 6 of 10

6. In 'The Living Word,' a stream of characters lifts off the page, evolving in flight from modern ideogram to ancient pictogram. What does the original ideogram mean? Hint

sun

bat

bird

imagination

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Question 7 of 10

7. In each of his exhibitions from the late 1990s onward, Xu Bing has taken an old landscape painting from the museum's collection and adapted it how? Hint

By repainting it in a more Chinese style.

By extending it beyond its frame with a mural.

By extending it beyond its frame with evocative ideograms.

By adding a detailed description in Square Word Calligraphy.

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Question 8 of 10

8. Exploring the link between writing, meaning, and culture, Xu Bing developed an innovative way of writing English: New English, or Square Word, Calligraphy. What is special about this writing style? Hint

It resembles Carolingian miniscule, even though it was developed independently.

The writing looks English but is nonsense.

The writing is English but looks Chinese.

Rounded letters are squared off, and even 'M' has only right angles.

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Question 9 of 10

9. Xu Bing's showpiece for Square Word Calligraphy is a translation of the words of what leader? Hint

Mao Zedong

Deng Xiaoping

Karl Marx

Jiang Zemin

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Question 10 of 10

10. Beginning in 2000, Xu Bing's exhibitions now include a classroom setting, complete with workbooks and instructional video, in which visitors can try their hand at what art? Hint

Square Word Calligraphy

Chinese bookmaking

Chinese calligraphy

printing with moveable type

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: 'Book from the Sky'

For 'Book from the Sky,' Xu Bing spent years developing characters that followed all the rules for Chinese ideograms, yet meant nothing. He then created a book using only these meaningless characters, binding several copies using traditional Chinese methods and putting another copy into scroll form.

The result is a room filled with what looks like a collection of profound and scholarly tomes, signifying nothing.

2. In what year did Xu Bing come to the American Midwest?

Answer: 1990

Unpopular with the Communist government of China, he began his time in America in Wisconsin, but moved to New York in 1993. In 1999, he received a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Answer: 'ABC'

Reversing the typical order of transliteration, 'ABC' begins with evocative homophones for each letter - the character representing 'A' means 'sadness,' while the character for 'B' means 'the other shore' - but degenerates into a statement of the ultimate randomness of alphabets and language.

Answer: Each 'monkey' is actually text meaning 'monkey'

More than a dozen languages are represented, each word stylized so as to resemble a monkey. Xu Bing has written that the inspiration for this work came from an old folktale in which a group of monkeys feared that the moon had fallen into a still pond, and formed a long chain to reach down and save it.

When the lowest monkey touched the water and the 'moon' disappeared, they realized it had been an illusion.

Answer: 'Landscript'

For example, a stone wall in one of the landscapes is composed of stylized renderings of the ideogram for 'rock', piled atop one another. It was at this point in the exhibition that I really began to wish I could read Chinese!

6. In 'The Living Word,' a stream of characters lifts off the page, evolving in flight from modern ideogram to ancient pictogram. What does the original ideogram mean?

Answer: bird

The starting text, each ideogram an plexiglass shape instead of an inked figure, is the dictionary definition of the word 'niao' (bird). Breaking free of language, though, the words begin to soar - and even before the characters themselves begin to look like birds, the shadows they cast are those of birds in flight.

The piece is really something to see: dozens of colorful shapes, suspended from fishing line, in full flight towards the exit.

7. In each of his exhibitions from the late 1990s onward, Xu Bing has taken an old landscape painting from the museum's collection and adapted it how?

Answer: By extending it beyond its frame with evocative ideograms.

As in 'Landscript,' this extension of the original painting represents features of the landscape with descriptive ideograms (a stylized form of the word for 'water' flows between the banks of a river, for example). As in 'The Living Word,' the ideograms are acrylic and three-dimensional. Their arrangement is also often three-dimensional, extending onto the walls and floor.

Answer: The writing is English but looks Chinese.

In Square Word Calligraphy, the letters of each word are arranged around each other in such a way that the ensemble resembles a Chinese ideogram. With some practice, however, an English speaker can learn to read Square Word.

9. Xu Bing's showpiece for Square Word Calligraphy is a translation of the words of what leader?

Answer: Mao Zedong

The quotation selected insists that 'art is for the people.'

10. Beginning in 2000, Xu Bing's exhibitions now include a classroom setting, complete with workbooks and instructional video, in which visitors can try their hand at what art?

Answer: Square Word Calligraphy

There's also a prototype computer program which will translate your name into Square Word Calligraphy. I hope you run across the work of Xu Bing in the future - it's stunning stuff!

Source: Author CellarDoor

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