Birds of Metal in Flight: An Evening of Poetry with 5 + 5

In celebration of the year-long exhibition Phoenix: Xu Bing at the Cathedral, a night of poetry by some of today's most renowned poets from the US and China took place on the evening of 25 February 2015 at the Cathedral of St John the Divine. Birds of Metal in Flight: An Evening of Poetry with 5 + 5 was introduced by The Very Reverend Dr James A Kowalski, Dean of the Cathedral, and by Professor Lydia H Liu from Columbia University.

Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York City
25 February 2015

The 10 poets who took part were Bei Dao, Ouyang Jianghe, Xi Chuan, Zhai Yongming, Zhou Zan, Charles Bernstein, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Pierre Joris, Marilyn Nelson and Afaa Michael Weaver. Each poet read one or more poems dedicated to Xu Bing’s Phoenixes.

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The Evening concluded with closing remarks by Xu Bing and was followed by a book signing and a reception.

This event was Sponsored by Columbia University, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Xu Bing Studio.

• Phoenix: Xu Bing at the Cathedral closes on 15 March 2015. To find out more about the exhibition, read Studio’s interview with Xu Bing.

Filmed by Miguel Benavides.