A MEDAL FOR INGENUITY

Contemporary art gets a sporting chance as Beijing's X Museum serves up a unique mobile gallery to global audiences, Xu Haoyu reports.

Shortly after tennis player Wu Yibing made history at the recent US Open with his court savvy and a complete arsenal of shots, his jersey garnered much attention on social media.

Wu, the first Chinese mainland male player reaching the last 32 of the year's final major, wasn't sporting the ubiquitous sponsor logos. Instead, there was a badge, in the shape of a medallion, styled onto the left sleeve of his jersey featuring a miniature painting from X Museum's collection of artist Xu Lei's 2021 work, titled The Variations of Chalk Cliffs on Ruegen.

X Museum is a one-of-a-kind center in the heart of Beijing that promotes multidisciplinary shows by not only artists, but also designers, musicians, architects, scientists and engineers. Its founder and director, Huang Xufu, firmly believes that art is too important not to share.