Visualizing translation in contemporary Chinese art : transcultural practices of Gu Wenda and Xu Bing = 中國當代藝術中的翻譯式視覺表述 : 谷文達與徐冰的跨文化實踐研究

Abstract

Gu Wenda (1955- ) and Xu Bing (1955- ) are two of the most celebrated contemporary Chinese artists. Both of them moved to the U.S. after the ’85 New Wave Movement and lived abroad until their return to China in the first decade of this century. Gu and Xu employ different types of translation, such as interlingual translation, cross-cultural translation, and intersemiotic translation, in their works as artistic expressions. Using translation as an analytical category from the methodological perspective of “Translational Turn” proposed by Doris Bachmann-Medick, this study examines the translational artistic expressions in artworks created by Gu and Xu and correlates the construction of their cultural identities with transcultural practices of this sort from the standpoint of Stuart Hall’s theory of cultural identity. There are mainly two dimensions to be investigated in this study. The first dimension focuses on how translational artistic expressions are involved in their artworks, or in which way translation is employed by Gu and Xu as artistic expressions. The second dimension explores what kinds of cultural identities do these translational artistic expressions indicate and what kind of dynamics of the two artists’ cultural identities can be identified if a broader context of their transcultural practices is taken into account. The two dimensions are correlated with respect to their transnational artistic practices. Gu’s two works, Forest of Stone Steles： Retranslation & Rewriting of Tang Poetry and United Nations, exemplify his translational artistic expressions in this study. The textual translation in Forest of Stone Steles foregrounds cultural untranslatability and illustrates that the culture is formed through a process of cross-cultural translation where the transformation is inevitable. In Gu’s ambitious art project United Nations, the national monuments, which involve representations of cultures of specific countries and regions, constitute a translation of these cultures. The translational artistic expressions in the two artworks interrelate with each other and indicate Gu’s awareness of the instability of cultural identity, as well as his construction of a transcultural identity that is neither eastern-oriented nor western-oriented. Furthermore, a growing inclination towards his Chinese culture origin can be perceived in his transcultural artistic practices after United Nations. Four artworks created by Xu in different periods exemplify his translational artistic expressions, with two of them, Square Word Calligraphy and Book from the Ground, given more weight. In Wu Street, the ignorance of a mismatch between a published translation of an English art article and figures in it exposes the contextual displacement in transcultural communication. The work Telephone validates the unavoidable miscommunication concerning interlingual translation. For Square Word Calligraphy, the translation between English letters and Chinese character components lays the foundations for a harmonious combination of Chinese and English writing systems. Book from the Ground involves the intersemiotic translation between human languages and graphic symbols, which is reflective of contemporary cultural reality. The translation involved in Square Word Calligraphy indicates Xu’s self-repositioning in western cultural context and art world, signaling the relief from his identity anxiety and his return to the identity of a Chinese artist with a distinctive cultural background of Chinese socialism. Book from the Ground engages Xu’s deep thinking of the origin of Chinese writing culture and signifies his strengthened Chinese cultural identity, an inclination initiated from his artwork Landscape Landscript. It is also found that the two artists share both similarities and differences regarding their translational artistic expressions and the dynamics of their cultural identities.