Artist's work poses questions in 9/11 dust at Artes Mundi Prize Exhibition

The haunting, original artwork by Xu Bing, which invites meditation on the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds, appears in the first Artes Mundi Prize exhibition showing exclusively at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom ( 7 February to 18 April 2004).

(PRWEB) February 6, 2004--As there is nothing from the first/Where does the dust itself collect? - an ancient Zen verse whose outline is revealed in the dust collected from New York following the terrorist attack of September 11th 2001 by artist

Xu Bing.

The haunting, original artwork by Xu Bing, which invites meditation on the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds, appears in the first Artes Mundi Prize exhibition showing exclusively at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff ( 7 February to 18 April 2004).

Xu Bing collected the dust a few streets away from the devastated site in Lower Manhattan following the attack. On the gallery wall a series of photographs will document the process by which the dust was made it into a doll-shaped statuette for transport through customs. The cast was then broken into fragments and ground to powder again in Wales.

Xu Bing was born in China in 1955 and now lives in New York. He is a print-maker and installation artist with a particular interest in how linguistic nuances can affect cultural differences. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale 1993, the Yokohama Triennale 2002, and has also shown at the V&A, at the Smithsonian Institute, and in Spain, Japan, Australia and South Africa.

The work on display by the ten artists shortlisted for the 40,000 prize will include a variety of media, film and video installations and sculpture, that explore notions of history, identity and memory, the body and communication and offers an opportunity to share knowledge of our own cultures with others.

The Artes Mundi (Arts of the World) Prize celebrates artists who have achieved recognition for the quality of their work in their own country or sphere and are emerging internationally. Artes Mundi focuses on artists who are working with ideas of human form or human presence and producing work which adds to our understanding of the human condition.

The Artes Mundi Prize exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive programme of public and schools events. The exhibition will also be supported by a series of programmes broadcast by BBC Wales.

For further information please contact:

Julie Richards, Press Officer

Direct line: 00 44 (0)29 20 573 185

Email: julie.richards@nmgw.ac.uk

www.nmgw.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

*    Janine Antoni was born in 1964 in the Bahamas and now lives in New York

*    Tim Davies was born in 1960 lives and works in Swansea, Wales

*    Jacqueline Fraser was born 1956 and lives and works in New Zealand

*    Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba was born in Japan in 1968 and now lives in Vietnam

*    Lee Bul was born in 1964 lives and works in Seoul, Korea

*    Michal Rovner was born in Israel in 1957 and now lives in New York and Israel

*    Berni Searle was born in 1964 lives and works born in Cape Town, South Africa

*    Fiona Tan was born in Indonesia in 1966 and now lives in the Netherlands

*    Kara Walker was born in California in 1969 and now lives in New York

*    Xu Bing was born in China in 1959 and now lives in New York

www.artesmundi.org

The Artes Mundi Prize is supported by:

Funders

Cardiff City & County Council, Welsh Assembly Government, Arts Council of Wales, BBC Wales, Cardiff Initiative, Wales Tourist Board, Welsh Development Agency, The Derek Williams Trust, British Council, British Council Korea, G. C. Gibson Charitable Trust, The Derek Hill Foundation, Visiting Arts, Wales Arts International

Sponsors

BT, Edwards Geldard, Eversheds, Gerald Eve, Kode, Searchlight Electric Limited, The Western Mail & Echo, Saville Audio-Visual.

Partners & Supporters

Arriva Trains Wales/Trenau Arriva Cymru, Barclays Community Fund, Contemporary Arts Society of Wales, Design Commission for Wales, Digiverse Limited, HSBC, FBA, MITES, National Museum & Galleries of Wales, Palser Grossman, Sony Centres in Swansea & Cardiff, Quinn Sound & Vision, Wales Trade International.

A full colour publication (120 pp) on the first Artes Mundi Prize, ISBN 1-85411-369-0, is available at the National Museum & Gallery and through co-publisher Seren, price 15 It contains essays by Tessa Jackson (Artistic Director), Declan McGonagle & Fumio Nanjo (Selectors), Iwan Bala (Artist) and on each of the short-listed artists.ENDS

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