POUGHKEEPSIE, NY .- More than 120,000 international and Chinese newspapers and four years of labor went into the creation of the latest work from Xuewu Zheng: Century Text: Meditations, on display from August 21 – September 7 at the James W. Palmer Gallery at the College Center, at Vassar College.

As Zheng explains, the idea for Century text started 12 years ago. “I experimented with various materials, and after many failed attempts discovered that my favorite media, paper, was the best for executing this work. Century Text, took four years to make and was an exhausting process,” says Zheng.

The newspapers were used to make 120,000 rolls which were knitted into1500 slips. Each slip is made of 80 rolls and the form is based on bamboo slips which are important text carriers used in Chinese history. The newspaper slips were dubbed Century Text. Every sheet of newspaper becomes a sculptural unit by hand rolling and rubbing, gluing with latex then varnishing. The varnish makes the paper brighten as well as become anti-insect and moisture proof. In addition, ten Ming-style writing desks and 30 wooden folk boxes made of old elm were produced for the original installation of Century Text in Beijing. They are classical forms, simple and elegant for displaying the text and are an integral part of the work. As Century Text travels around the world in various venues, a variety of local styles of table and boxes will be used.

Zheng said he uses newspaper because no matter which country the newspaper is from, it carries information about the news of the day. When today becomes the past, these newspapers are the history books, Century Text is a unique installation recording history, in which numerous events, large and small, interesting and uninteresting are all contained. The viewer will know a lot of the news items inside, but they are unable to read or access the information. Each roll is sealed, and the content is nothing but an existence, a paradox between the verbal and non-verbal, reading and non-reading.