Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei - Galerie Max Hetzler Videos
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Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei explores the multitude and complexity of the challenges within our contemporary society. Known for observing and commenting political and social changes of his home country but also the Western world, his artistic practice revolves around sensitive themes such as human rights, freedom of speech, economic exploitation or environmental damages and often takes a step beyond the art world. As a fine connoisseur of Chinese art and antiques, Ai's work often reflects on the perception of Chinese culture and the alienation of ancient objects. In his sculptures and installations, he favours the use of traditional materials such as porcelain, jade, marble or precious wood while being also well known for his films and photographs as well as his architectural and curatorial work.

"Ai Weiwei transforms his life into art, turning the things he encounters and the events he experiences into artistic statements. Yet this personal aspect is often coupled with references to specifically Chinese material and […] traditions. Regardless of whether he deconstructs these traditions or reshapes them, thus imbuing them with new qualities, their original meanings remain present in his works. By identifying and interpreting these references, one may hope to contribute to a better understanding of the multifaceted and highly complex dimensions of his art."

Uta Rahman-Steinert Ambivalent Deconstruction. Ai Weiwei's approach to tradition in Ai Weiwei. Evidence, Prestel, 2014

Image: Surveillance Camera and Plinth, 
2015
, marble
, 52 x 52 x 120 cm

Solo Exhibitions

Ai Weiwei - Galerie Max Hetzler

Ai Weiwei

57, rue du Temple, Paris

3 September – 8 October 2016

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

Ai Weiwei

Libero

Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

23 September 2016 – 22 January 2017
Ai Weiwei

#SafePassage

Foam, Amsterdam

16 September – 7 December 2016
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei at Cycladic

Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens

20 May – 30 October 2016

Biography

Show Vita
Show Selected Bibliography

Selected Press

The New York Times 2016

Financial Times Weekend 2015

News

Ai Weiwei

2050, A Brief History of the Future (group show)
National Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung
24 March - 3 June 2018

2050 is a future point in time that has not yet arrived. Many projections of the future of humankind envision the changes and appearances of our lifeworld in the year 2050. These yet unarrived times and objects are not far from our present and combine the history we have once experienced with ...
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Hope is Strong (group show)
Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
17 February - 10 June 2018

With far right parties and hate crimes on the rise, civil liberties and minority rights seem more at risk today than we could have imagined. In these turbulent times, Hope is Strong explores the power of art to question the world we live in.

See work by one of the world’s foremost politically ...

Ai Weiwei

Laundromat (solo show)
Garage Gallery, Fire Station, Doha
15 March – 1 June 2018

Ai Weiwei’s Laundromat is a traveling installation that brings the current European migrant crisis into sharp focus. The work is centered around a vast makeshift camp near the village of Idomeni, on the border with the Republic of Macedonia. As part of his recently released documentary Human Flow, ...
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei (solo show)
Mucem, Marseille
20 June – 12 November 2018

The Mucem is hosting Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, one of the major actors on the international art scene. The work of the photographer, architect, sculptor, performer, film-maker and social network activist combines Chinese thought with contemporary art, namely drawing his inspiration from Marcel ...

Ai Weiwei

Zum Anbeißen: Früchte in der Kunst - Aus der Sammlung Rainer Wild (group show)
Museum der Brotkultur, Ulm
8 February - 20 May 2018

Museum der Brotkultur, Ulm

Ai Weiwei, Rineke Dijkstra, Thomas Struth et al.

Stage of Being (group show)
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
9 December 2017 - 13 May 2018

Who are we? Where do we come from? What are we doing here? Where are we going?

We live in a world of progress: we know more and are capable of more, we live longer than ever before; maybe one day we will even achieve immortality. At the same time, we humans struggle with feelings of emptiness, ...

Ai Weiwei

Dangerous Art (group show)
Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa
11 November 2017 - 27 May 2018

Political changes in the Western world drove many democratic countries to a constant "state of emergency", which lead to an erosion of citizens' and institutions' rights. The new cluster of exhibitions revolves around artists' response to limitations placed on civil freedom, in Israel and worldwide. ...

Ai Weiwei

Age of Terror: Art Since 9/11 (group show)
Imperial War Museum, London
26 October 2017 - 28 May 2018

See the UK’s first major exhibition of artists’ responses to war and conflict since the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Age of Terror: Art Since 9/11 will feature more than 40 British and international artists, including Ai Weiwei, Grayson Perry, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Holzer, Mona Hatoum, ...
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei (solo show)
Various locations, The Contemporary Austin, Austin
3 June 2017 - ongoing

The Contemporary Austin and Waller Creek Conservancy announce an upcoming two-part outdoor exhibition of large-scale installations by Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, to go on view to the public beginning June 3, 2017, as part of The Contemporary Austin’s partnership with Waller ...
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

21st Biennale of Sydney: SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium and Engagement (group show)
Various locations, Sydney
16 March - 11 June 2018

Curatorial Statement: Mami Kataoka, Artistic Director

"The 21st Biennale of Sydney title borrows the quantum mechanical term "superposition" to link the notions of equilibrium and engagement. In quantum theory, "superposition" refers to the ability of electrons to occupy multiple states at ...
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (solo show)
Bayfront Gardens, The Ringling, Sarasota, FL
9 June 2017 - 1 June 2018

The Ringling is pleased to announce the presentation of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s 12 monumental bronze sculptures, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.  A sculptor, photographer, installation artist, architect, and social activist, Ai is one of the most renowned artists working today.

Circle of ...
Ai Weiwei