The creation of Phoenix rose from the midst of 2008 in Beijing. Xu Bing just returned from New York and was profoundly struck by the disparity between the ornate and modernized architecture and the crude and shabby living condition of their builders. Xu then picked up waste, construction tools and materials from the ruins of the construction site and created a massive pair of Phoenixes. Due to the entangled complications with the given space-time in China, Phoenix was not able to soar along the skyscraper as originally planned, but instead swam and roamed all over the world. This work encapsulates the artist’s deep contemplation on rapid urbanization, the new-age Proletariats, and capital accumulation.

The artwork now makes a new appearance on the sustainable textile made from recycled plastic in Indonesia, the host country of the G20. Wherever Phoenix has traveled to, there has been an abundant regeneration of meaning upon its contact with the local socio-historical context and cultural landscapes—every flight of Phoenix marks a new construction of meaning.