XU BING - ARTWORK - The Wall and the Road
The Wall and the Road is an installation comprising of The Wall (1990-1991) and The Road (2024). The Road was commissioned by the American Academy in Rome during Xu Bing's residency there. The work is a 24-meter long drawing of a section of the Appian Way (Via Appia), produced on site in partnership with the Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica in collaboration with students from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti, Istituto Europeo del Designas, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, and the City University of Hong Kong. The work was realized with the technique of rubbing, for which the process is as followed: apply natural adhesive to the object to be reproduced, cover it with a large sheet of Xuan paper, then "poach" the surface with ink-soaked cotton wads, and lastly, peel away the rubbing from the surface of the object. The details of the Appian Way stone blocks preserved in the work bear witness to the centuries-old history of this ancient path.