Xu Bing Turns Construction Remnants into 12-Ton Phoenixes

Craft & Design

I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

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View more articles by Goli Mohammadi

July 27th, 2013 8

Chinese artist Xu Bing spent two years creating his newest work, Phoenix, a pair of 12-ton phoenix sculptures made entirely from scrap Bing culled from construction sites in China, “including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and remnants of the daily lives of migrant laborers.” The male phoenix, named Feng, is 90 feet long, while the female phoenix, Huang, is 100 feet from beak to tail. The pair are on display through October 27 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, suspended from the ceiling inside the museum’s Building 5.

Here’s a fascinating video on the installation process, made by The Dark Sky Company, LLC, with music by Wilco:

And a series of images shot by Hideo Sakata (including the ones above):

[via My Modern Met]

8 thoughts on “Xu Bing Turns Construction Remnants into 12-Ton Phoenixes”

ameyring says:

July 27th, 2013 at 5:18 pm

What is “scrap Bing?” Is it a Chinese term for construction debris?

Goli Mohammadi says:

July 27th, 2013 at 7:51 pm

“a pair of 12-ton phoenix sculptures made entirely from scrap [that] Bing culled from construction sites in China”

MASS MoCA says:

July 28th, 2013 at 7:24 am

Thanks Goli! We are Make magazine fans at MASS MoCA – unique and massive projects like these are our favorites. Would you credit our friends at Wilco for the music on the timelapse video? They love Xu Bing’s Phoenix as much as we do. Cheers