Xu Bing: The Living Word

Installation Photographs    See exhibition page ยป

A diagram of the characters to be installed. Unpacking the over 400 characters that will hang from the ceiling of the Morgan's Gilbert Court. Installers gaze up to where they will be installing the grids from which the characters will hang. The tall crane that helps make installation possible. The Gilbert Court is around 50 feet high! A closeup of the grid from which the characters will be hanging. Alex Confer from the Registrar department measures out the floor plan. Closeup of a character. Measuring out the different lengths of string which will then be attached to the characters. Volunteers help sort the different characters. Attaching the strings to the characters. The strings are fine and see-through. We are thankful for our great volunteers who enthusiastically help us behind the scenes! Each character was shrink-wrapped and has to be cut from its packaging. More characters to unpack. Attaching the strings to the characters. Different characters require different lengths of string. The installation team work on the ceiling. The artist Xu Bing at work in our Gilbert Court! Xu Bing surveys one of the first hanging characters. Alex Confer from the Registrar department measures out string to hang the characters. Visitors are welcome to take photos of the installation. Post your photos here!: flickr.com/groups/xubing Did you know that our Cafe is open during the installation? Enjoy a front row seat! Getting each character to hang at just the right length can be a challenge. The characters start to take shape. Eventually they will travel from the floor to the ceiling! Artist Xu Bing admires his work. The artist arranges the characters that will remain on the ground. The characters on the ground and the hanging characters provide a before and after. Xu Bing's assistant makes sure that the characters hang just as they should. Xu Bing and his assistant Jesse find something amusing in the work. The characters start to create a more rainbow-like appearance Characters shimmering in the light that floods the Gilbert Court. Xu Bing and another member of his team gaze up at the work. Installers travel all the way to the ceiling to tie each character. If you could be a character in Xu Bing's work, this might be your perspective. The artist and his team also consider the work from our 2nd floor. The rainbow of colors truly brings the Gilbert Court to life! Spools of the monofilament (aka fishing wire) used to hang the characters. This stack of characters will be the last to hang. Xu Bing checks that the characters are hanging just right.



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The programs of The Morgan Library & Museum are made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.