From 10,000 pennies to a Beatles record haul, the obsessive work of Rutherford Chang heads to Beijing

Rutherford Chang (1979-2025), a US post-conceptualist artist known for obsessive collections of everyday objects, is the subject of a posthumous exhibition at UCCA Beijing. The show, titled "Hundreds and Thousands," features his best-known works, including "CENTS" (2017-25)—a solid block of 10,000 melted pennies—and "We Buy White Albums" (2013-25), an installation of hundreds of vinyl copies of The Beatles' White Album, whose sleeves were often marked by previous owners. Both works, along with four others, explore how identical objects accumulate unique narratives through time and circulation.