At the time of making this video, I needed to make a video about Renaissance sculpture using downloadable material available on YouTube and I didn’t want to worry about which sculpture to depict. At the time, my initial idea was that David was a very famous work and that it would be very convenient to find material. However, running against my expectations after scanning the Internet, I found it extremely difficult to find any material that was suitable – in reality it was a very arduous process to find any good videos of David.

This situation made me even more interested, for example in terms of the consumers who uploaded videos of David, probably up to 95% of the audience had no idea what they were shooting! This occurred even if at the beginning they probably all produced videos with a clear objective: i.e. going to Piazzale Michelangelo to see the David sculpture. But with the time they actually spent standing in front of this reverent sculpture, they either completely missed actually looking at the sculpture or they really had no idea how to look at it. The majority of tourists could only display one intention – to ‘register’ its presence by using a photograph to provide evidence that they were in this place. They used different ways to copy this place with their recording devices, however, they forgot to invest more thinking into this exercise. We “see” with our eyes, but actually this is not the most important thing – what is important is that we are using all our senses to remember. All of these classical sculptures share the same destiny: they are all very famous, their titles and their shapes have turned into symbols, but there is no one who truly remembers them.

那是在我還沒計劃做這個錄像之前，我正在為下一階段的工作做準備。那個時候我正好需要一段關於文藝復興時期經典雕塑的錄像，於是我在YOUTUBE上尋找看能否下載到合適的素材，其實無論哪一個雕塑都可以。當時我的想法是：大衛非常有名，應該很容易就找到。然而事情卻完全出乎我的意料，在瀏覽完所有網絡視頻之後我也沒有找到任何一條滿意的素材，事實是想要找到一個合適的關於大衛的錄像非常困難！
這個情況讓我覺得非常有趣，在關於DAVID的用戶上傳視頻中，大概有百分之九十五的觀眾根本不知道他們在拍什麼！即使他們在一開始就已經主動的明確了目標：去Piazzale Michelangelo觀看大衛雕像，但當他們真的站在這尊雕像面前的時候他們完全沒有在看，或者說他們根本不知道怎麼看！大部分的旅遊者視頻只發揮了一個作用就是“簽到”，他們用拍攝證明他們確實在場。他們用各種拍攝設備複製著這個現場，然而卻忘記使用他們的大腦。我們的眼睛“看到”其實並不重要，重要的是我們真的用感覺去記住。所有這些經典雕塑都有著類似的命運：他們非常有名，他們的名字和外形都變成了符號，但再也沒有人真的記得他們。

Guan Xiao (b. 1983) lives and works in Beijing. Her practice focuses primarily on sculpture, video, and installation. Combining a wide array of visual references, Guan Xiao continuously reinvents her biographical details such as identity, personal history, geographical background and the experience of her daily life by inscribing them into her exuberant works. Guan Xiao takes her sculpture and installations as virtual characters or “species” which she imbues with a new, literalized identity. The artist attempts to emphasize the importance of difference by creating purposeful contradictions between the materiality and the concept.

Guan Xiao graduated from the Communication University of China and has exhibited internationally. Her work has been featured at MUDAM (2021); the 34th Bienial de Sao Paulo (2021); Belgrade Biennial (2021); Antenna Space, Shanghai (solo; 2020); Skulpturenpark Cologne (2020); X Museum Triennial (2020); Kunstmuseum Sankt Gallen (2020); Sharjah Art Foundation (2020); Bonner Kunstverein (solo; 2019); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (solo; 2019); Fellbach Triennial, Fellbach (2019); Honolulu Biennial (2019); Migros Museum, Zürich (2019); Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang (2019); Kunsthalle Winterthur (solo; 2018); High Line, New York (2017); the 57th Venice Biennale, Venice (2017); Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin (2017); M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2017); 9th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2016); Jeu de Paume, Paris (solo; 2016); the K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai (2016, solo); ICA, London (solo; 2016); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2016); Shortlist for Hugo Boss Asia Art Award at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2015); the 13th Biennale de Lyon: La vie modern, Lyon (2015); Antenna Space, Shanghai (solo; 2015); 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum, New York (2015); Daimler Contemporary Berlin (2015); Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2015); M HKA Museum, Antwerp (2014); Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin (solo; 2014); 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen (2012) and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (2007).

Her work is in the collections of Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Boros Collection, Berlin; Daimler Collection, Stuttgart; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; Rubell Family Collection, Miami among others.