Ai Weiwei
dal 18/9/2015 al 12/12/2015
Segnalato da
18/9/2015
Ai Weiwei
Royal Academy of Arts, London
The exhibition includes significant works from 1993 onwards, the date that marks his return to China following more than a decade living in New York. Ai Weiwei created new, site-specific installations and interventions throughout the Academy's spaces.
curated by Tim Marlow, Artistic Director and Adrian Locke, Senior Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts
T
he
Royal
Academy
of
Arts
present
s
a
landmark
exhibition
of
the
Honorary
Royal
Academician,
Ai
Weiwei.
Although
Ai
is
one
of
China
’
s
leading
contemporary
artists,
his
work
has
not
been
seen
extensively
in
Britain
and
the
Royal
Academy
present
s
the
first
major
institutional
survey
of
his
artistic
output.
The
exhibition
include
s
significant
works
from
1993
onwards,
the
date
that
marks
Ai
Weiwei
’
s
return
to
China
following
more
than
a
decade
living
in
New
York.
Ai
Weiwei
has
create
d
new,
site
-
specific
installations
and
interventions
throughout
the
Royal
Academy
’
s
spaces.
On
his
return
to
China
in
1993,
Ai
began
to
work
in
a
direction
that
was
bot
h
embedded
in
Chinese
culture
and
reflected
the
exposure
he
had
had
to
Western
a
rt
during
his
twelve
year
sojourn
in
the
US
.
Citing
Duchamp
as
‘
the
most,
if
not
the
only,
influential
figure
’
in
his
art
practice,
Ai
continues
to
engage
with
creative
tension
s
between
complex
art
histories
,
conceiving
works
with
multiple
readings
in
the
process.
To
this
end
h
e
employs
traditional
materials
and
interventions
with
historic
objects
throughout
his
work
from
Neolithic
vases
(5000
-
3000
BCE)
to
Qing
dynasty
(1644
-
191
1)
architectural
components
and
furniture.
By
creating
new
objects
from
old,
Ai
challenges
conventions
of
value
and
authenticity
in
modern
-
day
China.
These
artworks
include
Table
and
Pillar
,
2002,
from
his
Furniture
series,
and
Coloured
Vases
,
2015.
Ai
works
in
a
variety
of
different
contexts,
scales
and
media.
He
transforms
materials
to
convey
his
ideas,
whether
in
wood,
porcelain,
marble
or
jade,
testing
the
skills
of
the
craftsmen
working
to
his
brief
in
the
process.
Some
pieces
take
months
to
crea
te
and
pass
through
lengthy
periods
of
experimentation,
pushing
the
boundaries
of
the
formal
qualities
of
a
material.
Sculptures
such
as
Surveillance
Camera,
2010
and
Video
Camera,
2010,
both
masterpieces
in
craftsmanship,
monumentalise
the
technology
used
to
monitor,
simultaneously
rendering
it
useless
and
absurd.
A
new
artwork,
Remains,
2015
,
is
also
included
in
the
exhibition.
Fabricated
in
porcelain,
the
work
replicates
in
meticulous
detail
a
group
of
bones
that
were
recently
excavated
at
a
site
of
a
la
bour
camp
that
operated
under
Chairman
Mao
in
the
1950s.
One
of
the
key
installations
within
the
exhibition
is
Straight,
2008
-
12,
part
of
the
body
of
work
related
to
the
Sichuan
earthquake
of
2008.
Fabricated
from
ninety
tonnes
of
bent
and
twisted
rebar
(the
steel
rods
used
in
the
construction
of
reinforced
concrete
buildings),
collected
by
the
artist
and
straightened
by
hand,
it
is
a
sober
monument
to
the
victims
of
the
earthquake.
The
subject
of
destruction,
whether by
demoliti
on
or
as
a
consequence
of
natural
disasters
is
one
of
a
number
of
recurring
themes
and
motifs
that
Ai
returns
to
within
his
body
of
work.
Ai
has
created
site
specific
sculptural
installations
for
the
Royal
Academy’s
spaces
,
including
his
monumental
Tree
displayed
in
the
Annenberg
Courtyard,
consisting
of
eight
individual
trees,
each
measuring
around
seven
metres
tall
.
It
is
the
largest
installation
of
this
work
to
date
and
t
o
enable
the
work
to
be
displayed
,
the
Royal
Academy
launched
a
Kickstarter
crowdfunding
campaign
,
where
£123,577
was
raised
;
the
l
argest
amount
ever
raised
for
a
European
art
project
on
Kickstarter
.
Ai
has
also
created
a
new
work
for
the
Wohl
Central
Hall,
featuring
a
chandelier
made
of
Forever
bicycles,
a
recurring
subject
in
h
is
work.
Ai
first
began
working
with
chandeliers
in
2002
and
this
is
the
first
time
Ai
has
combined
the
two
ideas,
creating
a
chandelier
from
bicycles.
Ai
Weiwei
said:
“
I
’
m
honored
to
have
the
chance
to
exhibit
at
the
Royal
Academy
of
Art
s
.
Tim
Marlow
and
the
rest
of
the
exhibition
team
have
a
history
of
producing
outstanding
exhibitions.
I
’
m
very
happy
to
be
a
part
of
it.
This
exhibition
is
my
first
major
survey
in
London,
a
city
I
greatly
admire.
The
selected
artworks
reflect
my
practice
in
recent
yea
rs,
and
also
include
new
works
made
specifically
for
this
sho
w.”
Tim
Marlow,
Artistic
Director
and
co
-
curator
of
the
exhibition,
said:
“Ai
Weiwei
is
one
of
the
most
important
artists
in
the
world
today
but
his
work
has
not
been
seen
anywhere
near
as
much
as
it
should
have
been
in
the
UK.
This
exhibition
will
begin
to
redress
that
balance
and
give
an
extensive
new
audience
the
chance
to
experience
a
creative
phenomenon
that
is
at
once
radical,
political,
architectural,
historical,
poetic,
materially
invent
ive
and
transformative
...
even
before
they’ve
walked
through
the
Main
Galleries
.”
Adrian Locke, co
-
curator of the exhibition said: “
'Ai has greatly enjoyed the installation of his exhibition
at the Royal Academy, constantly taking photos, finding time to s
ign autographs and take selfies with
visitors as well as engaging with the technicians on site. For him, being part of the process has been
an emotional one, as it is nearly five years since he was last directly involved with overseeing an
exhibition of th
is scale and complexity being put together
.”
br>
In
2011,
Ai
was
detained
for
81
days
by
the
Chinese
authorities
and
his
passport
confiscated
.
I
n
an
act
of
solidarity
and
support
from
his
fellow
artists
and
architects,
Ai
was
elected
an
Honorary
Member
of
the
Royal
Academy
of
Arts
in
May
2011.
This
exhibition
will
follow
in
the
Royal
Academy
’
s
tradition
of
celebrating
its
Royal
Academicians,
continuing
the
strand
of
programming
that
has
showcased
some
of
the
most
significant
living
artists
including
Anish
Kapoor,
David
Hockney
and
Anselm
Kiefer.
The
exhibition
has
been
developed
in
close
collaboration
with
Ai,
who
t
ook
an
architectural
approach
to
the
layout
of
the
exhibition,
within
the
Royal
Academy
’
s
spectacular
Main
Galleries,
befitting
the
monumental
character
of
many
of
his
pieces.
The
artist
virtually
navigated
the
spaces
from
his
studio
in
Beijing,
through
video
footage
of
the
galleries
and
architectural
plans.
The
curators
also
mad
e
regular
visits
to
his
studio.
Ai
Weiwei
regained
his
passport
in
J
uly
2015
and
travell
ed
to
London
for
the
final
installation
period
of
the
exhibition.
Image: Ai Weiwei in his studio in Caochangdi, Beijing, taken in April 2015
Press information:
Johanna Bennett tel: 020 7300 5615 email press.office@royalacademy.org.uk
Royal Academy of Arts
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