Xu Bing: Monkeys Grasping for the Moon

"Monkeys Grasping for the Moon," a suspended sculpture designed specifically for the Sackler Gallery, was created by expatriate Chinese artist Xu Bing (b. 1955) as part of a solo exhibition of his work in October 2001 titled "Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing." It is on display at the Smithsonian.

"Monkeys Grasping for the Moon," a suspended sculpture designed specifically for the Sackler Gallery, was created by expatriate Chinese artist Xu Bing (b. 1955) as part of a solo exhibition of his work in October 2001 titled "Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing." The popular temporary display was re-created under Xu Bing's supervision to enable it to remain at the Sackler Gallery for permanent view. Highly skilled craftspeople from the Smithsonian's Office of Exhibits Central worked with Xu Bing and Sackler staff to engineer and fabricate this highly complex artwork, marking the first time the Smithsonian has worked directly with a contemporary artist to build an artwork.

Exhibition feature
Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing
Comprised of 21 laminated wood pieces which each form the word "monkey" in one of a dozen different languages, the linked vertebrates flow from the sky-lit atrium through the gallery's stairwell down to the third-level reflecting pool.

This work is based on a Chinese folk tale in which a group of monkeys attempt to capture the moon. Linking arms and tails, they form a chain reaching down from the branch of a tree to the moon's shimmering reflection on the surface of a pool lying beneath them, only to discover the things we work hardest to achieve may prove to be nothing but an illusion.

Visitors to the gallery will find a panel on every level of the museum guiding them through each represented language, which includes Indonesian, Urdu, Hebrew, Braille and eight others.

Xu Bing's monumental sculpture is presented by the family of Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Chiang Soong Mayling 1898-2003) in commemoration of her historic visits to the Joint Session of Congress in 1943 and a memorable return to the U.S. Capitol in 1995.

A quote from Madame Chiang's address to Congress on February 18, 1943 reads: "We in China, like you, want a better world, not for ourselves alone, but for all mankind, and we must have it."