For his contribution to the major group exhibition Guang Xi, curated by Jiang Jiehong this spring at the Guangdong Museum of Art, Xiao Yu produced a series of ceramic Go (Weiqi) boards presented in a long row. The ten games, all ostensibly in progress, have had their game stones melted through the firing process, with the black-and-white pieces reduced to glossy glass pools that flow together. Go, the ancient Chinese board game dating back more than 2,000 years, is known for complex strategies that require a balance of defensive and offensive play. As a response to the exhibition’s theme of guang xi, the term for a broad set of social networks and relationships, Xiao Yu’s Go game boards suggest a fitting commentary on the intricate moves for power and dominance in contemporary society. The game parallels the real life attention required to advance from and defend what one has laid claim to. But in the installation all this careful positioning is disrupted, the heat of the ceramic firing the event that has blurred this play for control. This installation is the first in a series of four solo and group exhibitions, all completed since the spring of 2011, where Xiao Yu examines the mechanisms of power and status.

excerpted from Gordon Laurin's "Reordering the Familiar: Four Recent Projects by Xiao Yu"

GO

pottery

53 x 53 x 16 cm (x 14)

2011

Exhibition: Guanxi: Contemporary Chinese Art, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, April 15–June 19, 2011; Today Art Museum, October 10–23, 2011.