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.

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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.