Name: Xu Bing
Age: 56
Occupation: Artist and Vice President, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
City/Neighborhood: Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Chaoyang, Beijing

What project are you working on now?

"Book from the Ground"

You are known for breathtakingly intricate conceptual works that mutate Chinese characters into nonsense or even, as in the case of your current Morgan Library show, birds taking flight. In your other new project, at Columbia University, you devised a method of writing English words that resemble Chinese characters and encourage gallery visitors to try out this new method of writing. What is it about words that make them such an unceasing source of inspiration?

The written word is the most fundamental element of human culture. Thus to alter the written word is to alter the most essential component of human thought, and it is also a basic condition for the formation of new cultural modes. In Chinese history, from Qin Shi Huang [the First Emperor] to Mao Zedong, the first thing that is done to establish authority is to reform and unify writing, thereby reforming, at the most basic level, old cultural concepts and establishing a new cultural hierarchy.

There is a unique quality to Chinese culture, art and writing: a murky barrier that exists between pictographic characters and visual art. It has significantly influenced the way Chinese people think, Chinese aesthetics, and even artistic methods, and so my contact with and inspiration from the written word is a natural outcome.

I have always maintained that inspiration derives from a sensitivity to the problems of one's time. If there are problems, then there is art. The tension between the written word and the way we live, work and communicate today has reached a level never seen before, which is, in turn, the uninterrupted source of inspiration that I find in the creative force of the written word.

As the vice president of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, you preside over the education of many of China's future artists. How has this position influenced your work?

Historically speaking, great artists have always been thinkers, people of great cognitive power, who, at the same time, are capable of transforming the outcomes of their thinking into an effective "artistic language." My experiences working today in China and my experiences as an independent artist in the West for more than 15 years are incredibly different. The contrast is significant, and the difference between these two systems has actually broadened the range and the basis for comparison in my thinking. For instance, by participating in the work of the Academy, I have had an easier time entering into and understanding what China today really is. This new experience has benefited my artistic production and has been a source of inspiration. If I were not working in China, then I wouldn't have made a work like the "Phoenix." My authority does not come from administrative power, but from my influence in art and the fine arts.

As such a figure of authority, isn't it ironic that you choose to undermine the certainty of words — the instruments of authority — in your art?

Leading an art institution in China is not an administrative position, but a fine arts position, a position whose responsibility is guiding the direction of fine arts. It requires someone with experience and first-hand knowledge of the East and the West, of tradition and of participation in contemporary art. Sometimes an artistic precept can affect the direction of an entire generation of art. You say that my artistic choices "undermine... the instruments of authority." If this is positive, then I can use the influence of my position to bring this same quality into the works of more artists.

You famously created an installation using dust collected in New York the day after 9/11. What motivated you to create the work?

In reality, this work does not directly address the events of 9/11, instead it explores connections between spiritual and material spaces: what, in the end, is more eternal, what is mightier? In today's world, mankind must seriously and calmly reconsider those issues which — while they have already become unfamiliar — are the most essential and important: what should we revere and what should we pursue? What is true strength? Where is religion? What is the point of origin for co-existence and mutual respect between divergent faiths? These are not abstract, abstruse, scholarly propositions, instead they are bound to the lives of every person; they are the most fundamental questions. If we don't return to them, mankind is in for trouble.

What, to you, makes a good 9/11-inspired artwork?

It is impossible for any work of memorial art to take the place of the event itself or the human harm and revelation that resulted. Andrew Solomon said it quite well in the last paragraph of his essay ["Where Does the Dust Itself Collect?]:

"In the last decade's interminable and fruitless debate about a 'freedom tower' and a monument to 9/11, no one thought to note that the monument was already there: it was the dust itself."

What's the last show that you saw?

"Xu Bing: Tobacco Project" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

What's the last show that surprised you? Why?

I was surprised by just how boring those works of "standard contemporary art" were at this year's Venice Biennale and just how self-indulgent the art world remains.

What's your favorite place to see art?

In real life, all around us. That's where the most art is.

Do you make a living off your art?

Regardless, I can rely on it to help others.

What's the most indispensable item in your studio?

Things that have nothing to do with art.

Where are you finding ideas for your work these days?

From the realities of contemporary Chinese society, which is something that even Chinese people can't make heads or tails of.

Do you collect anything?

I collect things that have special meaning to me.

What's the last artwork you purchased?

15 years ago when I was working on "A, B, C..." at the New Museum, I was fortunate to get my hands on a "small work" by Jeff Koons.

What's the first artwork you ever sold?

Six small woodcuts from the '70s

What's the weirdest thing you ever saw happen in a museum or gallery?

You see them all the time, but it is hard to say.

What's your art-world pet peeve?

Abusing people's respect for art to create a reputation.

What's your favorite post-gallery watering hole or restaurant?

Nowhere specific.

Do you have a gallery/museum-going routine?

I go to a bar after openings.

What's the last great book you read?

Julian Stallabrass's "Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction." I had it with me recently when I was on my way to America from China, but I don't have it anymore.

What work of art do you wish you owned?

A small sketch by the 19th-century French artist Millet.

What would you do to get it?

I wouldn't do anything.

What international art destination do you most want to visit?

None.

What under-appreciated artist, gallery, or work do you think people should know about?

The artwork of Mainland Chinese post-80 artists.

[Note: "post-80" is a Chinese phrase that refers to the generation born between 1980 and 1990.]

Who's your favorite living artist?

Myself

What are your hobbies?

Writing