Your Surname, Please.
| Artist | Xu Bing |
|---|---|
| Year | 1999 |
| Medium | CD-ROM, computer, printer, text panel |
| Country | China |
| Year of acquisition | 1999 |
| Collection no. | 1209 |
| Explanation | Incorporating with computer software, the artist developed his “New English Calligraphy” system first exhibited in 1997 into this piece. Through this system, the artist creates what seems like Chine Characters out of Roman alphabet. As the letters of the Roman alphabet are converted into the radicals of Chinese characters, parts of the characters can be read as characters of the alphabet. In this work Japanese people input their names in the alphabet into a computer and printed out their “New English Calligraphy” names. This is a concept based on the intermingling of two cultures, those of the Roman alphabet and Chinese character. As this interaction occurs in peoples names, this piece implicitly poses questions about cultural identity. About 2500 surnames were input into the system but there are about 1500 surnames on this panel. |
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