AI WEIWEI

In Search of Humanity (solo show)
Albertina Modern, Vienna
16 March – 4 September 2022

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Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995, courtesy of the artist, private collection
Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995, courtesy of the artist, private collection

The Albertina Modern presents the first comprehensive museum exhibition in Vienna dedicated to Ai Weiwei, an outstanding artistic voice of our time, a ceaseless activist, a proud critic of authoritarian systems and a truthful poet. In Search of Humanity extensively examines the aspect of humanity and artistic responsibility within Ai Weiwei’s oeuvre.

The exhibition highlights concepts such as: surveillance, censorship, human rights, freedom of expression, human displacement, radical responsibility, the power of beauty and the truth of poetry. Guided through these lines of thought the exhibition offers new tools to understand the relevance of Ai Weiwei’s artistic language, which comprises a wide array of art historical paradigms (such as the readymade) alongside more radical activist strategies, all of which are devoted to fathom the extremes of the contemporary human condition on a global scale. An impressive selection of works from the artist’s over three-decade career shall shed a light on Ai Weiwei as a preeminent figure within the contemporary art world.

A catalogue has been published to accompany this exhibition. Get your copy here.

Albertina Modern

Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995, courtesy of the artist, private collection
Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995, courtesy of the artist, private collection

Additional:

AI WEIWEI

In Search of Humanity (solo show)
Kunsthal Rotterdam
30 September 2023 – 3 March 2024

Installation view: Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2023, photo: Marco de Swart and Kunsthal Rotterdam
Installation view: Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2023, photo: Marco de Swart and Kunsthal Rotterdam

Kunsthal Rotterdam presents In Search of Humanity, Ai Weiwei’s most comprehensive retrospective to date. Including paintings, cultural ready-mades, LEGO brick works, sculptures, installations, photography and video art, the exhibition offers an impressive overview of the artist’s over-four-decades-long career, featuring key works from all his creative periods.

Kunsthal Rotterdam

Installation view: Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2023, photo: Marco de Swart and Kunsthal Rotterdam
Installation view: Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2023, photo: Marco de Swart and Kunsthal Rotterdam

AI WEIWEI

Ai Weiwei receives the Praemium Imperiale Prize

Photo: Ai Weiwei, image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio
Photo: Ai Weiwei, image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio

We congratulate Ai Weiwei on being awarded the Praemium Imperiale Prize 2022 by the Japan Art Association.

Praemium Imperiale Prize

Photo: Ai Weiwei, image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio
Photo: Ai Weiwei, image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio