XU QU: TENNIS COURT

TEXT: Lida Zeitlin Wu | 2014年10月20日

Tennis Court, 2014, Installation (painted iron panel, wire fence, High-pressure fan,PVC-U pipe), 592×880×350cm, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.
Xu Qu, Tennis Court, 2014, Installation (painted iron panel, wire fence, High-pressure fan,PVC-U pipe), 592×880×350cm, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.
LAST MONTH, BEIJING-BASED artist Xu Qu (b. 1978) constructed his first large-scale outdoor installation: a tennis court on the terrace of Taikang Space in

Beijing’s Caochangdi. Tennis Court, exactly 1/6 the size of a standard tennis court, is also an exercise in relational aesthetics: viewers become players as they step onto the court and it explodes into chaos. A hidden mechanical system pushes the tennis balls into an up-and-down motion, making us wonder who here is actually controlling the game. “Xu Qu: Tennis Court” is at Taikang Space, Beijing, September 11- Ongoing.

Xu Qu, Tennis Court, 2014, installation view, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.
Xu Qu, Tennis Court, 2014, installation view, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.
Xu Qu, Tennis Court, 2014, detail, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.
Xu Qu, Tennis Court, 2014, detail, Taikang Space, Beijing. Courtesy of Taikang Space.