Cang Xin

Although he received no formal training, Cang Xin became interested in art (as well as rock and roll) while he was at music school. For him art is more than technique: it is a way of life that sits easily with his self-conception as a modern-day shaman, heir to the nature-magic tradition of his native Mongolia. Cang holds the profound belief that all things have spirit—both animate and inanimate objects and he approaches his work as a means to promote harmonious communication with nature. As one of China's most celebrated performance artists, he first seized the public imagination with Communication (1996-2006), a ritual-performance series in which he licked, or tasted, everything from cockroaches and cobblestones to banknotes and a portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre. His works have included bathing with lizards, adorning the clothing of strangers, and prostrating himself on icy glaciers: each act representing a ritual of becoming the other.