GU WENDA, one of the most influential and controversial Chinese artists living abroad, attempts to address in his own artistic terms the issue of globalism that dominates discussions of contemporary culture.

His major work, "Forest of Stone Steles, Retranslation & Rewriting of Tang Poetry," represents his ambitious undertaking.

On Tuesday the complete installation of 50 hand-carved stone steles went on exhibit for the first time anywhere at the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in the Overseas Chinese Town (OCT). Shenzheners will have the opportunity to learn more about the internationally acclaimed artist through his work and a three-day international symposium from Nov. 19 to 21.

"Forest of Stone Steles" will be on display through Nov. 28.

The huge installation consists of 50 upright stone slabs with inscriptions, each measuring 110 centimeters long, 190 centimeters wide and 20 centimeters wide, each weighing 1.3 tons.

The massive work is a retranslation and rewriting of 50 ancient Chinese poems from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Gu carved translations of each Tang poem from Chinese to English and back to Chinese on each stone slab, from which he also produced ink rubbings on rice paper. The stone slabs, displayed like coffins, and rubbings mounted on the wall create a forest in the exhibition hall.

According to Gu, his installation was designed in New York and produced in his stone carving studio in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province from 1993 to 2004.

"My project was created at the turning point of the 20th century to the 21st century under the presence of different political and social and scientific exchanges and clashes between cultures," he said.

Gu stressed his installation inherited the Chinese classical stone stele format, but it was not an exact continuation of the tradition.

"My work reflects the changing world of cultural import and export, cultural assimilation and alienation, and the consuming of one culture by another," Gu said.

Different from other annotations and interpretations of the Tang Dynasty poetry throughout history, Gu regards his "Retranslation & Rewriting of Tang Poetry" as the cultural, historic and social symbols of the interaction between East and West, as filtered through different languages.

"The fundamental concept of my work is that our society, especially after postmodernism and postcolonialism, is beyond any traditional interpretation possible within a single culture," he said.

Gu believes the Chinese and English texts of his 50 stone steles are a symbolic examination of contemporary Chinese culture through intercultural misunderstandings.

"I'm aiming to show the possibility of the formation of a new and unique culture as a result of the journey through recognition and misunderstanding, exchanges and clashes," Gu said.

"By reading the retranslation and rewritten texts on the stone steles, we experience the satire, absurdity and confusion almost ending in a predicament in a process of shaping a new culture," he said.

Since completion, parts of Gu's stone steles have been displayed in Australia, the United States and Hong Kong.

In conjunction with the exhibition, an international symposium titled "Translating Visuals" will be held from Nov. 19 to 21 at the He Xiangning Art Gallery.

The theme of cultural translation will be discussed from the angles of comparative culture and visual arts.

The symposium will be organized by respected art historian Wu Hung from the University of Chicago (Illinois), in the United States.

Born in Shanghai in 1955, Gu is a graduate of the Shanghai School of Arts and the China Academy of Art.

Although trained as a traditional landscape painter, Gu rebelled against the canons of Chinese art.

In 1987, he left China for the United States in search of greater artistic freedom. The move introduced Gu to new sources of concern and inspiration such as an increasingly globalized culture and cultural mistranslations.

By continuing to use and rework traditional Chinese art forms, such as calligraphy, ink painting and carving, to express these ideas, Gu breathes new life into old art forms and creates striking statements about life and culture.

Editor: Wing