The Sky of Brooklyn: Digging a Hole in Beijing（布魯克林的天空）

Creator(s)

Gong-Xin WANG 王功新

Preview

Date

1995

Format

Photograph

Materials

TV, audiotape

Dimensions

100cm X 300cm X 100cm

Description

Within this installation at his own home in Beijing, China, “Wang recurrently problematizes an understanding of art that emphasizes the opening up of reality in real time as a tool to critically reflect upon seemingly fixed relations and positions. Reflecting on his own positionality and by doing so, inviting the viewer to participate in this process, he created the site-specific work "The Sky of Brooklyn: Digging a Hole in Beijing" (1995). After having just returned from a longer stay in the USA to Beijing in 1994 he problematized these new spatial and cultural perspectives. In the ground of his traditional courtyard house he dug out a three-meter deep hole. On the ground he placed a TV screen on which he showed recordings of the sky of Brooklyn suggesting that the visitor is able to see through the globe the sky on the other side of the world.” (Hopfener, Birgit. (2012). "‘Embodied Criticality’ in Moving-image Installations by Wang Gongxin and Zhang Peili." Journal of Visual Art Practice 11, no. 2 and 3: 193-208.) (Russ, Hannah ‘18)