Xu Bing used Ground Zero dust to create his prize-winning work. Sunday he became the first winner of a new £40,000 award for visual artists.
He was awarded the Artes Mundi (Arts of the World) Prize for the specially-commissioned piece.
Bing, who is from China but now lives and works in America, covered the floor of The National Museum & Gallery in Cardiff, Wales, with the dust he had collected from the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York.
The surface of the settled dust was then punctuated by the Chinese verse, "As there is nothing from the first, where does the dust collect itself?"
Article comments
1 - visualsimplicity
This guy does some weird but fascinating stuff. Ever seen examples of his New English Calligraphy?
2 - Bela
The New English calligraphy is fun, but the 9/11 dust in Cardiff was the showstopper of an otherwise relatively routine prize. Xu Bing was the only Artes Mundi artist who bothered to make a new work for the prize, and that's one (just one) reason why he deserved to win.
3 - www
Bing, who is from China but now lives and works in America, covered the floor of The National Museum & Gallery in Cardiff, Wales, with the dust he had collected from the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York.
Bing is his first name. His family name is Xu. according to how you called him, it seems he is your intimate friend.
4 - Sassy
Bela is misinformed about him being the only artist to make new work for the show.