Xu Bing 徐冰

Xu has continued the theme of cultural intersections through a variety of other works that incorporate a much wider variety of media, materials, and themes, including ink rubbings, stencils, glass, scrolls, computer manipulations, and surveillance videos, as well as organic materials and living animals.

Xu’s ambitious Tobacco Project (2000–2011) combines these various interests. In 2000, during a residency at Duke University, Xu started his research on tobacco, its consumption, and its global circulation. Using tobacco as both material and subject, the artist explores the history and production of the cigarette, global trade, and marketing in his long-term Tobacco Project. Tobacco was one of the first products from the United States to enter the Chinese market. Fascinated by this US-China connection, Xu transformed different aspects of raw tobacco leaves, cigarettes, and cigarette packaging and other marketing materials to explore the interwoven histories of the global economy, commodities, and Chinese art history.