​

​

Can corporate history be art? This question can only be asked if one is not familiar with the fascinating long-term project by the Chinese artist Xiaowen Zhu. Anyone who has experienced Oriental Silk will answer this question with a clear “yes.” The project’s title is also the name of a company founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Specializing in trading and distributing silks, it was headed for decades by Kenneth Wong and his family. Through her multi-sensory works, Zhu opens up a multifaceted view of a firm that is distinguished, like its silk products, through its own haptics, style, colors, and values. The people, places, and stories that make up the phenomenon of Oriental Silk form a fascinating, vivid tapestry in which the past and present, art and life, are closely interwoven.

​

​

Stock List

Berlin

Do You Read Me?

Motto

She said

pro qm

​

London

Daunt Books

Guanghwa Bookshop

​

Los Angeles

Hennessey+Ingalls

Arcana: Books on the Arts

​

Ningbo

Jia Za Zhi

​

Amazon

Amazon.de

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

​

​

Reviews & Press

​

e-flux Interview

Threads of Nostalgia: Xiaowen Zhu in conversation with by Francesca Girelli

​

Artists' Book Reviews

Oriental Silk

​

taz, Die Tageszeitung (The Daily Newspaper)

Graues Leinen für leuchtende Seide

​

It's Nice That

Designed to mirror a physical experience,

Oriental Silk documents the first Chinese silk importing business in the US

​

EastEast

Homesickness Is a Bolt of Beautiful Silk

Тоска по дому — отрез прекрасного шелка

​

Berlin Art Link

Telling the Story of ‘Oriental Silk’: An Interview with Xiaowen Zhu

[Chinese translation]

​

The Brand Identity

Bilingual publication Oriental Silk embraces contrast, tactility and subtlety

​

新气集 Podcast

艺术家如何（争取）成为奖学金专业户

​

重音社 Accent

Five Questions with Xiaowen Zhu

​

shushushushu books

【书签】乡愁是一轴美丽的丝绸

​

​

​

​