Still Wind - Christopher Doyle x Xu Jing

Still Wind, a joint exhibtion that links with Christopher Doyle and Xu Jing. One is active and the other is sedentary. They try to create this collaboration with two very different media, traditional Chinese calligraphy and modern film with the aim of explore the brand new relationship and possibilities between video and calligraphy, as well as between tradition and contemporary.

The two different media still have similarity, that is about the gesture and movement. Handholding a camera and creating moving images is like handholding a brush for calligraphy. The intention is the same. When people film, they need to engage to an actor like one aged to engage with ink, paper, and the gesture. The works in the exhibition are created and derived from the idea of “stillness in motion and motion in stillness”. People have to continuously evolve with the art and try to have a breakthrough in creation by adding new elements into traditions.

Xu and Christopher met in 2000 during during the filming of Hero which was directed by Zhang Yimou. Christopher also filmed about Xu when she wrote the large Chinese character ‘劍’(Sword) as the body double for Tony Leung. This kind of destiny inspired them to have this exhibition so as to create some chemical reactions when putting calligraphy and video together.

Artist Statement of Xu Jing [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]Calligraphy is one of the traditional Chinese arts. I have been living in the world created and shaped by the people from the past for many years now. In spite of that, the reality is far from what we expected. It is a need for me to bluntly, completely and passionately express myself with calligraphy. I never thought that two dimensions and three dimensions could be coexisted until I met Christopher Doyle. “You are a paper, I am a space. We are all from the same point, an empty and lonely space. People come to here by loneliness. In this space, we separately look for inspirations and capture moments that matter to us.” He said. Collaborating with him gives me more interpretations and strengths on my creation. Arts do not have an answer, it is all about trying after all.

Artist Statement of Christopher Doyle

Mostly we live in a three-dimensional world and yet rely on the two dimensions or books and art and the cinema screen to render emotions and ideas three dimensional in our hearts and heads . The collision of two different forms , the collage of ideas gaining more resonance for the viewer than they would as " stand alone " works is the motivation for our collaboration . As Xu Jing addressed her calligraphy as a living organic dynamic exchange between an modern artist and its ancient heritage , i hope that my response and our dialogue is expansive and engaging enough that it is familiar and yet personal and the Fringe is a space you get to lose yourself in.