Xu Bing’s Square Word Calligraphy Classroom Moves To Oi!

Description

After four months of success at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Xu Bing’s commissioned Square Word Calligraphy Classroom has moved to Oi! Glassie. In Eying East, Wondering West — Square Word Calligraphy Classroom on the Move, the audience can decode Xu’s famous calligraphic system, with instructive manuals on the logic of the characters, copybooks to try and digital technology for designing your own characters.

Xu began developing his square word calligraphy in 1993, fusing written English and written Chinese: the letters constituting an English word are altered and ordered into a structure resembling a Chinese square character, yet remains comprehensible to English readers. For an audience familiar with both written languages, the calligraphic system’s initial unfamiliarity and subsequent re-familiarising invite reflection on the distances and differences between languages and cultures, and our perceptions of them.