In Venice, an Artist Thinks Inside the Box

By Stephanie Murg on July 20, 2009 1:55 PM

Chinese artist Xing Xin is treating the Venice Biennale crowds to an exhibition with a David Blaine-meets-Ghandi-meets-Marina Abramovic flair. Last week, with the help of a blowtorch-wielding accomplice, Xin sealed himself inside an iron box on Murano Island, where he will spend 49 days in protest of China’s one-child policy. “Maybe because of the loneliness in my deep heart, I want to tell something,” said Xin of his project. “Or maybe because I am [an] only child, I want to show off my uniqueness.”

The box—which is just under seven feet long, three feet wide, and three feet tall—is equipped with a pair of waterproof TVs that beam live footage from cameras inside the box to viewers outside. What will they see? An insolated Xin at work on the task he has set for himself: counting the characters in an 150-part set of Chinese school books. He will not be freed until completing the task. In the meantime, the box allows Xin to receive food and water as well as “deal with bodily functions.”

The exhibition is located outside the future home of Spazio Berengo, a contemporary glass fine art museum set to open this fall. Adriano Berengo, director of Spazio Berengo and a primary sponsor of Xin’s project, is also the organizer of the Venice Biennale collateral exhibition Glasstress, on view through November 22. The plan is to recreate the iron box demonstration using a glass box, which could lend a new meaning to the idea of performing bodily functions.