Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Phoenix Project: An Afterimage of Labor

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Xu Bing

Part of the book series: Chinese Contemporary Art Series ((CCAS))

  • 425 Accesses

Abstract

This essay examines Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project (2008–2010), which comprises two colossal phoenixes assembled from construction debris, workers’ clothing, and daily utensils. I compare the way Phoenix Project addresses labor issues to an afterimage—an image that remains in the viewer’s retina after he or she is no longer exposed to the original object, as the artwork does not offer a commanding view of the social problem. I argue that the work, instead, manifests Xu’s concern about the spectatorship of contemporary art at a private art museum by revealing the intertwined relationship between contemporary art and capitalist forces, which facilitates viewers’ understanding of the social conditions that transform both artistic and migrant labor.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    Xu Bing Studio, “Phoenix Project,” Xu Bing, accessed March 7, 2015, http://www.xubing.com/index.php/site/projects/year/2010/phoenix_project.

  2. 2.

    Xu published the images and text of “The Story of the Phoenix” as a brochure, The Story of the Phoenix––Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project (Beijing, 2014). I hereby cite it in my analysis of the exhibition.

  3. 3.

    “Xu Bing’s Phoenix Made Their Way to Shanghai,” Jing Daily, accessed July 10, 2015, http://money.163.com/10/0408/02/63ND9L9600253B0H.html.

  4. 4.

    Xu Bing Studio, 68.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 12; 14.

  6. 6.

    Xu Bing Studio, 22–32.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., 36; 38–39.

  8. 8.

    Hu Jiujiu, “Ice ‘Phoenix’: When Peasants’ Mode of Thinking Meets Urban Expansion 冰 ‘鳳凰’: 當農民思維遇上城市擴張,” Artron, accessed May 15, 2015, http://news.artron.net/20100415/n102690.html.

  9. 9.

    For details of the exhibition site, please refer to the panoramic view available on the Today Art Museum’s website; see “Xu Bing Phoenix,” accessed March 23, 2016, www.vrdam.com/gallery/tam/xubingfenghuang.html.

  10. 10.

    Liu Jiakun, “Xu Bing’s Phoenix: Making Ordinary Viewers Feel Moved 徐冰的鳳凰: 讓普通人感到震撼,” Artron, accessed June 21, 2015, http://news.artron.net/20100415/n102695.html; Xu Diye, “A Discussion between Bei Dao, Ge Fei, and Xu Bing 北島, 格非, 徐冰等座談” Yifeng, accessed December 3, 2015, http://culture.ifeng.com/a/20140711/41115898_0.shtml; Hu Jiujiu, “Phoenix is Actually about a Chinese Approach 鳳凰實際是一種中國態度,” Artron, accessed June 3, 2015, http://news.artron.net/20100401/n101505.html; Danni Shen, “A Dialogue with Chinese Artist Xu Bing,” The Cornell Daily Sun, last modified October 20, 2014, accessed June 1, 2015, http://cornellsun.com/blog/2014/10/20/a-dialogue-with-chinese-artist-xu-bing/; Wang Hui, “How do Phoenixes achieve Nirvana 鳳凰如何涅槃,” Aisixiang, accessed August 26, 2016, http://www.aisixiang.com/data/49960.html.

  11. 11.

    “Memoir of the Selection of the 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Golden Palm Award and Golden Raspberry Award 2010 中國當代藝術金棕櫚獎+金酸梅獎評選現場實錄,” Artintern, accessed March 11, 2016, http://www.artlinkart.com/cn/article/overview/8d9cuymn; Cheng Meixin, “On Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project and others—Conflicts between concepts and actions 評徐冰的〈〈鳳凰〉〉及其他——理念與行為的衝突,” Artintern, accessed September 26, 2015, http://www.artlinkart.com/cn/article/overview/906cuymp/genres/critique/JH.

  12. 12.

    Liu Jiakun, discussion at Symposium on Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project, Today Art Museum, Beijing, March 28, 2010, transcript, Xu Bing Studio, Beijing; “Memoir of the Selection of the 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Golden Palm Award and Golden Raspberry Award”; Wang Hui, “How do Phoenixes Achieve Nirvana”; He Guiyan, “Discussions of Phoenix Project at the Golden Palm Award 鳳凰金棕櫚討論,” transcript, Xu Bing Studio, Beijing.

  13. 13.

    John Rajchman, “Xu Bing: Art as a Mode of Thinking,” in Xu Bing: A Retrospective, ed. Chia Chi Jason Wang (Taipei: Taipei Fine Art Museum, 2012), 36.

  14. 14.

    Xu, “Visual Recreation of Local Resources 本土資源的視覺再造,” in Hesitation in Flight: The Birth of Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project 彷徨于飛——徐冰〈〈鳳凰〉〉的誕生, ed. Zhou Zan (Beijing: Art and Culture Press, 2012), 123.

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    Xu Bing Studio, 2; 5.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 3.

  18. 18.

    Xu Bing Studio, 4.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Xu Bing Studio, 3–4.

  21. 21.

    National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, “By the End of 2008, the Peasant Worker-Population was Two Hundred Twenty-four Million, Five Hundred Twenty Thousand 年末全國農民總量為 22452 萬人,” National Bureau of Statistics, accessed December 3, 2015, http://www.stats.gov.cn/ztjc/ztfx/fxbg/200903/t20090325_16116.html.

  22. 22.

    Lee M. Sands, “The 2009 Olympics’ Impact on China,” China Business Review, accessed January 20, 2017, https://www.chinabusinessreview.com/the-2008-olympics-impact-on-china/.

  23. 23.

    Wang Qishan, “Report on the Eleventh five-year Plan of Beijing 北京市十一五規劃綱要報告,” The State Council of the People’s Republic of China, The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, accessed December 12, 2016, http://www.gov.cn/test/2006-02/07/content_180521.htm.

  24. 24.

    Mei Fong, “Building the New Beijing: So Much Work, So Little Time,” in China’s Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges, ed. Minky Worden (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2011), 172.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    Wu Xiaogang and Donald Treiman, “The Household Registration System and Social Stratification in China: 1955–1996,” Demography 41, no. 2 (2004): 363.

  27. 27.

    Ibid.

  28. 28.

    While the ratio of urbanites’ to peasant workers’ income was 2.4:1 in 2004, it rose to 5.5:1 in 2009. See Haining Wang, Fei Guo, and Zhiming Cheng, “A Distributional Analysis of Wage Discrimination against Migrant Workers in China’s Urban Labor Market,” Urban Studies 52, no. 13 (October 2015): 2284.

  29. 29.

    “News,” Beijing World Financial Center, accessed January 31, 2017, http://www.bjwfc.com.cn/en/news/news01_01.htm.

  30. 30.

    Xu Bing Studio, 5.

  31. 31.

    For an account of the funding suspension, see Xu Bing Studio, 2–3, 46. For analysis of how the 2008 global financial crisis affected corporations, see David H. Erkens, Mingyi Hung, and Pedro Matos, “Corporate Governance in the 2007–2008 Financial Crisis: Evidence from Financial Institutions Worldwide,” Journal of Corporate Finance 18, no. 2 (April 2012): 389–411.

  32. 32.

    Xu Bing Studio, 57.

  33. 33.

    Xu Bing Studio, 43–44; Beijing Municipal Government, “Notice about Measures to Guarantee Air Quality in Beijing during 2008 Beijing Olympics and Para-Olympics 關於發布 2008 年北京奥運會殘奥會期間北京市空氣質量保障措施的通告,” The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, accessed December 15, 2015, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2008-04/14/content_944313.htm.

  34. 34.

    David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 120–151.

  35. 35.

    Xu Bing Studio, 43–44.

  36. 36.

    Xu Bing Studio, 33.

  37. 37.

    Krista Thompson, “Introduction: Of Shine, Bling, and Bixels,” in Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice (Durham: Duke University Press, 2015), 1–46.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

  39. 39.

    Pamela Lee, Forgetting the Art World (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012), 8.

  40. 40.

    Pauline Yao, In Production Mode (Hong Kong: Timezone 8, 2009), 15.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., 19.

  42. 42.

    Yao, 51; 66.

  43. 43.

    “Revenel International Art Group,” Revenel, accessed January 12, 2017, https://ravenel.com/article.php?cid=32&lan=en.

  44. 44.

    Mark Landler, “Taiwan Maker of Notebook PC’s Thrives Quietly,” New York Times, last modified March 25, 2002, accessed April 2, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/25/business/taiwan-maker-of-notebook-pc-s-thrives-quietly.html; “Company Introduction,” Quanta Computer, accessed April 2, 2016, http://www.quantacn.com/EnWeb/CompanyProfile.aspx.

  45. 45.

    “Company Introduction.”

  46. 46.

    “22 International Art Plaza,” China Daily, accessed June 2, 2016, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/beijing/2012-12/12/content_16008732.htm.

  47. 47.

    “Antaeous Group: Forerunner of Tourism Real Estate 今典集團:中國度假地產先鋒,” Antaeous Group, accessed June 2, 2016, http://www.jdjt.net/WebPage/About.aspx?Cid=1.

  48. 48.

    “Antaeous Group: Forerunner of Tourism Real Estate”; Philip Feifan Xie, “Tourism Businesses,” in Authenticating Ethnic Tourism (Bristol: Channel View Publications, 2011), 186–219.

  49. 49.

    One major landmark is Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions in 2005, in which works by Chinese contemporary artists sold at record prices. Raj Rangarajan, “$147M Asian Sales Leave Past Records in the Dust,” Artnews, accessed January 11, 2017, http://www.artnews.com/2005/06/21/147m-asian-sales-leave-past-records-in-the-dust/; for the increasing visibility of mainland Chinese collectors, see Barbara Pollock, “Mainland China’s Mega-Collectors,” Art News, accessed January 12, 2017, http://www.artnews.com/2012/10/23/mainland-chinas-mega-collectors/.

  50. 50.

    “The Three Represents Theory,” Xinhuanet, last updated June 25, 2001, accessed January 29, 2016, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20010625/422678.htm.

  51. 51.

    Shi Xia, “What is the accurate meaning of ‘Three Represents’ 三個代表’的科學含義是什麼?,” News of the Communist Party of China, accessed August 8, 2017, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64156/64157/4418474.html.

  52. 52.

    Joseph Fewsmith, “The Sixteenth National Party Congress: The Succession That Didn’t Happen,” The China Quarterly, no. 173 (March 2003): 13.

  53. 53.

    China Culture Market Net, a website closely associated with the Ministry of Culture, issued an article in 2004 titled “Bring About a Creative Century: Take Action to Develop a Creative China.” In this article, author Liu Shifa claimed that Chinese creative industries should learn from and bring in their counterparts in Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore to strengthen creativity and originality in the local industry. See “China Cultural Market Network,” China Cultural Market, accessed January 12, 2017, http://www.ccm.gov.cn/swordcms/publish/default/static/main/index.htm; quoted in Michael Keane, “Brave New World: Understanding China’s Creative Vision,” International Journal of Cultural Policy 10, no. 3 (2004): 276.

  54. 54.

    Keane, 274–75.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Dai Zhuoqun, “The Reality and Dilemma Faced by Chinese Private Museums in the Contemporary Art Market 當代市場背景下我國民營美術館的現實與困境,” Art Criticism 藝術評論, no. 8 (2009): 70–3.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    Xin Zhui, Lin Bin, and Yu Hua et al., “Who is Enthusiastic about the Development of Private Museums 誰在熱衷民營美術館建設,” Art Appreciation 藝術品鑑 (February 2014): 26–29.

  59. 59.

    “The Main Gallery of the Today Art Museum opens in August 今日美術館主館 8 月開館,” Oriental Art: Finance 東方藝術·財經, no. 9 (2006): 31.

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    Zhang Tianyu, “Today Art Museum: Private Art Museum, the Difficulty Comes from Blindness 今日美術館:民營美術館, 困難是因為盲目,” Art Market 藝術市場, no. 2 (2009): 27–30.

  62. 62.

    “22 International Art Plaza,” China Daily, accessed April 3, 2018, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/beijing/2012-12/12/content_16008732.htm.

  63. 63.

    Sasha Su-Ling Welland, introduction to Experimental Beijing: Gender and Globalization in Chinese Contemporary Art (Durham: Duke University Press, 2018), accessed April 1, 2018, https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-0-8223-6943-1_601.pdf.

  64. 64.

    For exhibitions of contemporary art before 2000, see Wu Hung, Exhibiting Experimental Art in China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). For the attendance of contemporary art shows before 2000, see Thomas J. Berghuis, “Considering Huanjing: Positioning Experimental Art in China,” positions 12, no. 3 (2004): 714.

  65. 65.

    Xu Bing Studio, 25.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., 29.

  67. 67.

    Julia Andrews, Painters and Politics in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1979 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 67.

  68. 68.

    Shen Kuiyi, “Comics, Picture Books, and Cartoonists in Republican China,” Inks: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies 4, no. 3 (November 1997): 3.

  69. 69.

    Ibid.

  70. 70.

    Shen, 3.

  71. 71.

    Julia Andrews, “Literature in Line: Picture Stories in the People’s Republic of China,” Inks: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies 4, no. 3 (November 1997): 17–18.

  72. 72.

    Xu Bing, interview by the author, Beijing, August 25, 2016.

  73. 73.

    Xu addressed the letter to Yong Liang, whose real name remained unknown. According to Xu, Yong raised four issues in his unpublished letter: Xu’s opinion on Chinese art created during and after the 1980s; Xu’s opinion on Western contemporary art, especially art of the United States; Xu’s opinion on art pedagogy in the East and the West; and Xu’s thoughts about the future of Chinese contemporary art. Xu wrote and published his response in 2007, right before he took up the position at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. See Xu, “Xu Bing: A letter on Contemporary Art and its Education 徐冰: 關於現代藝術及教育問題的一封信,” Artron, accessed March 18, 2015, http://artist.artron.net/20140916/n653875.html.

  74. 74.

    Ibid.

  75. 75.

    Xu Bing moved to the United States upon receiving an invitation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990. He stayed in the States for seventeen years until moving back to China in 2008. See Chia Chi Jason Wang, “Art as Meliorism–On ‘Xu Bing: A Retrospective,’” in Xu Bing: A Retrospective, 28–32.

  76. 76.

    Lisa Hoffman, Fostering Talent: Patriotic Professionalism in Urban China (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010), quoted in Lily Chumley, Creativity Class: Art School and Culture Work in Postsocialist China (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 2.

  77. 77.

    For the status of CAFA, see “Overview of the School 學院概况,” Central Academy of Fine Arts, accessed January 1, 2017, http://www.cafa.edu.cn/aboutcafa/?c=101.

  78. 78.

    “About The School of Experimental Art, CAFA,” Central Academy of Fine Arts, accessed July 28, 2018, http://www.cafa.edu.cn/dep/?c=625&t=1.

  79. 79.

    Wu, “Introduction: Exhibiting Experimental art in China,” in Exhibiting Experimental Art in China, 11.

  80. 80.

    For the employment of overseas faculty members, see Chumley 2, 8. CAFA held a conference on improving the pay and subsidies for advanced overseas talent in 2011. According to the news report, staff commonly agreed that the school should raise the pay to attract overseas scholars; see Lü Xufeng, “The Academy Held a Conference on Improving the Pay and Subsidies for Advanced Overseas Talent 我院召開提高海外高層次人才待遇專題會議,” ed. Xu Xinli, Central Academy of Fine Arts, last modified October 12, 2011, accessed July 28, 2018, http://www.cafa.edu.cn/info/?c=901&N=4931. For the admission of international students, see “Admission,” Central Academy of Fine Arts, accessed July 28, 2019, http://www.cafa.edu.cn/info/?c=806&page=3&page_b=1.

  81. 81.

    Xu worked at CAFA as an instructor from 1981 to 1989. For a detailed introduction to Xu’s career, see “Timeline,” in Xu Bing: A Retrospective, 392–409.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York, NY, USA

    Xinran Guo

  2. Wuge Art and Technology, Beijing, China

    Xinran Guo

Authors
  1. Xinran Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sarah E. Fraser

  2. School of Art and Design, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Yu-Chieh Li

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Guo, X. (2020). Phoenix Project: An Afterimage of Labor. In: Fraser, S., Li, YC. (eds) Xu Bing. Chinese Contemporary Art Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3064-7_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation