work
The Wall
| category | Installation |
| subject | Political / Social |
| tags | |
| base | 130 cm |
| height | 110 cm |
| depth | 20 cm |
| year | 2019 |
The Wall
Cm 110x130x20
Cement and antique books
Exactly thirty years have passed since the fall of the Berlin
Wall. It was the 1989, a year of transformation and of histo
rical events as for example the World Wide Web
invention. Coming to art, instead, at the Center Pompidou
was inaugurated the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre, t
he first major international exhibition that united western ar
tists with other worlds, at that time considered very far, if n
ot exotic. Globalization was therefore coming to swift
steps. But returning to the image of the Wall, for us Wester
ners there is no suggestion (and today no celebration) that
does not refer to that extraordinary need to break down ba
rriers for a new desire for freedom. On the other hand, eve
ry wall that is erected proposes the sense of limit, as if hist
ory had really taught us nothing. The Wall is also the main
theme of Hu Huiming's installation, but the inspiration feed
s once again on the relationship with the culture of origin. I
nside each cement brick that forms this barrier, a pressed
book is hidden, which can no longer be accessed or read.
The episode refers to a specific historical event: when Em
peror Qin Shihuang burned the books, the ninth generation
of Confucius, a descendant of Kongzhen, hid many classi
c texts of tradition within a wall. All the the books were got
safe, saved but illegible. Later, at the time of Emperor Hanj
ing, Liu YuYu, prince of Lu Gong, expanded his palace and
demolished the original house of Confucius. So nothing re
mains of the wall, and this is an extreme attempt to bring it
back to life.
--- critical text by Luca Beatrice
Cm 110x130x20
Cement and antique books
Exactly thirty years have passed since the fall of the Berlin
Wall. It was the 1989, a year of transformation and of histo
rical events as for example the World Wide Web
invention. Coming to art, instead, at the Center Pompidou
was inaugurated the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre, t
he first major international exhibition that united western ar
tists with other worlds, at that time considered very far, if n
ot exotic. Globalization was therefore coming to swift
steps. But returning to the image of the Wall, for us Wester
ners there is no suggestion (and today no celebration) that
does not refer to that extraordinary need to break down ba
rriers for a new desire for freedom. On the other hand, eve
ry wall that is erected proposes the sense of limit, as if hist
ory had really taught us nothing. The Wall is also the main
theme of Hu Huiming's installation, but the inspiration feed
s once again on the relationship with the culture of origin. I
nside each cement brick that forms this barrier, a pressed
book is hidden, which can no longer be accessed or read.
The episode refers to a specific historical event: when Em
peror Qin Shihuang burned the books, the ninth generation
of Confucius, a descendant of Kongzhen, hid many classi
c texts of tradition within a wall. All the the books were got
safe, saved but illegible. Later, at the time of Emperor Hanj
ing, Liu YuYu, prince of Lu Gong, expanded his palace and
demolished the original house of Confucius. So nothing re
mains of the wall, and this is an extreme attempt to bring it
back to life.
--- critical text by Luca Beatrice
