***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 08:25:10 -0800
   [From]: Britta Erickson <britta2@leland.Stanford.EDU>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@herz.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: Looking at art from different cultures

Dear Josette et al,

The Xu Bing exhibition at the Sackler should open in October 2001.  They
have a very long preparation time, partly because they are a federal
institution!  Xu Bing has exhibited his "Classroom Calligraphy"
installation in many countries (including at Hanart in Hong Kong, as you
mention), and I believe he is extremely sincere in his wish to give people
of all cultures the opportunity to experience writing Chinese calligraphy.
I have spent a lot of time with him recently (that is where I was last
week, when I was not reading my e-mails), and he is interested in making
not just Chinese culture, but art in general, more approachable for the
average person.  So much of contemporary art is something that almost
no-one can understand--why??????  If people can get an entrance into
appreciating Chinese culture by writing English in a format that resembles
Chinese characters, that's a wonderful thing.  Those of us on this forum
are part of a super elite group that understands, or thinks we understand,
or at least tries to understand, contemporary art.  Contemporary art can be
daunting and irrelevant and even stupid to most people.  So I like the idea
of bits of it connecting with a less elitist population.  Maybe that will
provide an entre into more difficult areas of contemporary art.

Holiday greetings!

Britta