eight directions of the wind: Edmund de Waal at The Huntington

A meditation on migration, exile and memory: de Waal’s poetic installations of porcelain vessels and shards enter into conversation with an iconic Los Angeles cultural center Published with The Huntington. British artist and writer Edmund de Waal (born 1964) is known for installing exquisite porcelain vessels in historic spaces. At The Huntington in Los Angeles, his interventions and artworks explore the movement of ideas, people and objects—what Chinese poet Bei Dao calls the “eight directions of the wind.” In this volume, de Waal writes of the interactive and contemplative spaces he has created in The Huntington’s Chinese and Japanese Gardens and The Huntington Art Gallery. Each installation incorporates text, natural materials and recent works by de Waal that create new perspectives and connections among The Huntington’s collecting areas. An in-depth conversation between de Waal and cultural historian Josh Kun offers context for the artist’s interventions, set against Los Angeles’ mix of cultures. To round out the volume, the pair curated a selection of poems on exile that speaks to global histories of migration.