From October 11th to 15th, 2017, Guangxi Normal University Press Group and “The Arts Bridge”, a communication platform for worldwide art and culture which is founded by itself, attended to the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair together. Mr Zhu Yingchun, the Annual Artist of the Year 2017, carried his stunning book The Language of Bugs to the fair and arose extensive attention. 

The stand was set at the entrance of Pavilion 6.1. Though the area of the stand was only 16 square meter, the exhibition activities of this fancy designed stand was rich and fascinating. With the display of Mr Zhu Yingchun’s arts, books, video images and audio data, the exhibition presented the artistic ideology to the visitors from multi angles. During the whole period of Frankfurt Book Fair, the stage attracted eyes of audiences and publication peers.

Only one English book was exhibited on the stage, Language of Bugs. Mr Zhu Yingchun spent five years to create the book and all the characters were written by bugs, even the catalogue, foreword, notes and page numbers. Thousands of curved characters, which were the tracks and language of bugs, were just the performance art of bugs. It was this book that caused the resonance of western readers. In the face of these worm-eaten tracks, an old man said “Oh yes, I know, I know, I’ve seen the tracks on the leaves of my garden.” The English version of this book is published by ACC Publishing Group from Britain. 

A wooden music stand was placed at the center of the stand, with a special edition of Language of Bugs on it. This special edition is being collected by the British Museum. Close to the aisle, there was an interaction area. Two cut blocks for painting from the Language of Bugs, Chinese rice paper, horse brush and Chinese ink were placed on the table and waited for audiences. Under the instruction of staff, readers rubbed the wood blocks and experienced the ancient block printing. Some visitors also wrote down whatever they wanted to say to the bugs and exchanged their ideas with Mr Zhu. This was a communication between human and books, between human and nature.

Activity: Banquet for New Release

On October 12th, the banquet for new release was held on the stage of The Arts Bridge. Exquisite dessert and fine wine was served, creating a light-hearted atmosphere for the appreciating of the new release and communicating between publishers.

Activity: Interview from Organizers of “Best Book Design from All over the World” 

The "best book design from all over the world", organized by the Stiftung Buchkunst, is the highest honor for book design and presents the top level of book design in today’s world. The Language of Bugs was awarded a silver medal in 2017.

Activity: Speech by Mr Zhu Yingchun

On October 12th, Mr Zhu Yingchun made a personal presentation at the International Stage in Pavilion 5.1. Starting from the English version of The Language of Bugs, Mr Zhu Yingchun introduced the experience, ideas and methods for his creation.