Title page of Book from the Sky, in pseudo-Chinese characters. The characters “天書” do not appear anywhere in the book.
The work was originally titled Mirror to Analyze the World: The Century’s Final Volume (simplified Chinese: 析世鉴－世纪末卷; traditional Chinese: 析世鍳－世紀末卷; pinyin: Xī shì jiàn—Shìjì mòjuàn), a title which "evokes the trope of the book as jian鍳 or mirror in the venerable tradition of imperial historiography".[4]: 67 However, the artist eventually felt that this title was "cumbersome" and "heavily influenced by Western forms and the current cultural climate",[2]: 57 and decided to adopt the name that was already in popular use, Tianshu. In Chinese, the term tian shu (“divine writing”) originally referred to certain kinds of religious texts, but is now used to mean "gibberish"; it has thus been suggested that nonsense writing would be a more appropriate translation of the title.[5]
The book is composed using a set of 4,000 characters, as this is roughly the number of characters in common usage in modern written Chinese. These characters were designed on the basis of the Kangxi radicals, so that "in terms of density of strokes and frequency of occurrence, they... appear, on the page, to be real characters".[2]: 55 In addition to these, page and fascicle numbers were indicated using tally marks based on the Chinese character 正.[2]: 60–61
The characters were carved into individual pieces of movable type made from pear wood,[2]: 54 in a style slightly squatter than that of Song typefaces.[2]: 53 Initially, Xu himself typeset sample pages, and took them for printing to a factory in the village of Hanying (simplified Chinese: 韩营; traditional Chinese: 韓營), in Caiyu township (Chinese: 采育).[2]: 46, 58 (This was one of the last remaining traditional printing factories in China, which after the Cultural Revolution mainly produced state-sponsored reprints of classical texts using pre-Revolution woodblocks.[2]: 59 ) Later, workers at the factory typeset the pages by referring to a "model book" prepared by Xu, which contained symbols such as ↓★○☒❖ that had been placed in a one-to-one correspondence with his 4,000 pseudo-Chinese characters.[2]: 61
Reactionsedit
Critical reactions to A Book from the Sky were initially dismissive. In 1990, an article in a Beijing newspaper,[6] said to have been authored by an agent of the Ministry of Culture, described it as "ghosts building walls" (simplified Chinese: 鬼打墙; traditional Chinese: 鬼打牆; pinyin: guǐ dǎ qiáng), i.e., obfuscation for the sake of obfuscation.[5] Meanwhile, "New Wave" artists found it too "traditional and academic".[2]: 63 Nevertheless, the 1988 exhibition of the book at the China Art Gallery attracted a broad audience that included not only artists, but also professors and editors, some of whom visited the exhibition repeatedly in an attempt to find even a single real Chinese character.[2]: 58 Later critics viewed the work more positively.[7]
A Book from the Sky is considered to be a representative of the "1985 Fine Arts New Wave" (simplified Chinese: 85美术新潮; traditional Chinese: 85美術新潮; pinyin: Bāwǔ Měishù Xīncháo), and has been interpreted as "a primary symbol of the broad liberalization movement that characterized the years prior to the Tiananmen massacre".[5] It has also invited comparisons with James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, as "a radical challenge to how we think about language, writing, literacy, and human-machine relationship".[4]: 65 However, according to Xu, his main purpose was to "expose the fact that Chinese literary culture is 討厭taoyan": 'boring' or 'tedious'.[8]: 17 In later works such as Square Word Calligraphy and Book from the Ground, he takes this idea further by subverting the logographic nature of the Chinese script in ways that make it broadly accessible.
Notesedit
^Two of the characters were later found by Charles Stone to coincide with attested Chinese characters; however, one of these was itself a 9th-century forgery Hung 1994
^ abcdefghijkXu Bing (2009). "The Making of Book from the Sky". In Spears, Katherine (ed.). Tianshu: Passages in the Making of a Book. Translated by Drew Hammond. London: Quaritch. pp. 51–63.
^ abLiu, Lydia H. (2009). "The Non-Book, or the Play of the Sign". In Spears, Katherine (ed.). Tianshu: Passages in the Making of a Book. London: Quaritch. pp. 65–79.
^Cayley, John (2009). "His Books". In Spears, Katherine (ed.). Tianshu: Passages in the Making of a Book. London: Quaritch. pp. 1–37.
Referencesedit
Xu, Bing; Cayley, John (2009). Spears, Katherine (ed.). Tianshu: Passages in the Making of a Book. Bernard Quaritch Limited. ISBN978-0955085291.
Hung, Wu (1994). "A 'Ghost Rebellion': Notes on Xu Bing's 'Nonsense Writing' and Other Works". Public Culture. 6 (2): 411–418. doi:10.1215/08992363-6-2-411.
External linksedit
Description on Xu Bing’s website
Blog post mentioning A Book from the Sky, with photographs
January 01, 1970
book, from, simplified, chinese, 天书, traditional, chinese, 天書, pinyin, tiānshū, book, produced, chinese, artist, bing, style, fine, editions, from, song, ming, dynasties, filled, entirely, with, meaningless, glyphs, designed, resemble, traditional, chinese, ch. A Book from the Sky simplified Chinese 天书 traditional Chinese 天書 pinyin Tianshu is a book produced by Chinese artist Xu Bing in the style of fine editions from the Song and Ming dynasties but filled entirely with meaningless glyphs designed to resemble traditional Chinese characters 1 The book which consists of four volumes totaling 604 pages was printed in a single print run of 126 copies between 1987 and 1991 2 61 and was first publicly exhibited in October 1988 in Beijing s China Art Gallery 3 Title page of Book from the Sky in pseudo Chinese characters The characters 天書 do not appear anywhere in the book The work was originally titled Mirror to Analyze the World The Century s Final Volume simplified Chinese 析世鉴 世纪末卷 traditional Chinese 析世鍳 世紀末卷 pinyin Xi shi jian Shiji mojuan a title which evokes the trope of the book as jian 鍳 or mirror in the venerable tradition of imperial historiography 4 67 However the artist eventually felt that this title was cumbersome and heavily influenced by Western forms and the current cultural climate 2 57 and decided to adopt the name that was already in popular use Tianshu In Chinese the term tian shu divine writing originally referred to certain kinds of religious texts but is now used to mean gibberish it has thus been suggested that nonsense writing would be a more appropriate translation of the title 5 Contents 1 Production 2 Reactions 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksProduction editThe book is composed using a set of 4 000 characters as this is roughly the number of characters in common usage in modern written Chinese These characters were designed on the basis of the Kangxi radicals so that in terms of density of strokes and frequency of occurrence they appear on the page to be real characters 2 55 In addition to these page and fascicle numbers were indicated using tally marks based on the Chinese character 正 2 60 61 The characters were carved into individual pieces of movable type made from pear wood 2 54 in a style slightly squatter than that of Song typefaces 2 53 Initially Xu himself typeset sample pages and took them for printing to a factory in the village of Hanying simplified Chinese 韩营 traditional Chinese 韓營 in Caiyu township Chinese 采育 2 46 58 This was one of the last remaining traditional printing factories in China which after the Cultural Revolution mainly produced state sponsored reprints of classical texts using pre Revolution woodblocks 2 59 Later workers at the factory typeset the pages by referring to a model book prepared by Xu which contained symbols such as that had been placed in a one to one correspondence with his 4 000 pseudo Chinese characters 2 61 Reactions editCritical reactions to A Book from the Sky were initially dismissive In 1990 an article in a Beijing newspaper 6 said to have been authored by an agent of the Ministry of Culture described it as ghosts building walls simplified Chinese 鬼打墙 traditional Chinese 鬼打牆 pinyin guǐ dǎ qiang i e obfuscation for the sake of obfuscation 5 Meanwhile New Wave artists found it too traditional and academic 2 63 Nevertheless the 1988 exhibition of the book at the China Art Gallery attracted a broad audience that included not only artists but also professors and editors some of whom visited the exhibition repeatedly in an attempt to find even a single real Chinese character 2 58 Later critics viewed the work more positively 7 A Book from the Sky is considered to be a representative of the 1985 Fine Arts New Wave simplified Chinese 85美术新潮 traditional Chinese 85美術新潮 pinyin Bawǔ Meishu Xinchao and has been interpreted as a primary symbol of the broad liberalization movement that characterized the years prior to the Tiananmen massacre 5 It has also invited comparisons with James Joyce s Finnegans Wake as a radical challenge to how we think about language writing literacy and human machine relationship 4 65 However according to Xu his main purpose was to expose the fact that Chinese literary culture is 討厭 taoyan boring or tedious 8 17 In later works such as Square Word Calligraphy and Book from the Ground he takes this idea further by subverting the logographic nature of the Chinese script in ways that make it broadly accessible Notes edit Two of the characters were later found by Charles Stone to coincide with attested Chinese characters however one of these was itself a 9th century forgery Hung 1994 a b c d e f g h i j k Xu Bing 2009 The Making of Book from the Sky In Spears Katherine ed Tianshu Passages in the Making of a Book Translated by Drew Hammond London Quaritch pp 51 63 Xu amp Cayley 2009 p 163 a b Liu Lydia H 2009 The Non Book or the Play of the Sign In Spears Katherine ed Tianshu Passages in the Making of a Book London Quaritch pp 65 79 a b c Hung 1994 Yang Chengyin June 2 1990 An Essential Critique of New Wave Art Literature and Art Newspaper Xu amp Cayley 2009 Cayley John 2009 His Books In Spears Katherine ed Tianshu Passages in the Making of a Book London Quaritch pp 1 37 References editXu Bing Cayley John 2009 Spears Katherine ed Tianshu Passages in the Making of a Book Bernard Quaritch Limited ISBN 978 0955085291 Hung Wu 1994 A Ghost Rebellion Notes on Xu Bing s Nonsense Writing and Other Works Public Culture 6 2 411 418 doi 10 1215 08992363 6 2 411 External links editDescription on Xu Bing s website Blog post mentioning A Book from the Sky with photographs Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title A Book from the Sky amp oldid 1222646166, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
