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Andrea Chen

Artist Ai Weiwei was apparently not amused after one of his vases valued at US$1 million was deliberately smashed at an art museum in Miami.
Ai, who was famously photographed breaking a Han dynasty urn earlier in his career, told the South China Morning Post smashing up a piece of art was acceptable, but only if you own it.
Watch: Ai Wei Wei's music video from his debut album: "Laoma Tihua"

A Florida artist, Maximo Caminero, 51, has been charged with criminal mischief after he broke the brightly coloured vase on display at the Perez Art Museum on Sunday.

Caminero said he was a fan of the Chinese artist and his actions had partly been inspired by his behaviour.
Ai produced Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn in 1995, a set of three photos of himself dispassionately smashing an antique about 2,000 years old, to demonstrate his sceptical attitude towards cultural values.
"I saw Ai Weiwei's photos behind the vases where he drops an ancient Chinese vase and breaks it," Caminero said. "I saw it as a provocation by Weiwei to join him in an act of performance protest."
But Ai told the Post yesterday that Caminero's act was very different from his own.
"I smashed my own belongings whereas he broke others'. Behavioural art can go to extremes, like you can hurt yourself for instance, but you cannot hurt others for the sake of art, can you?"
Ai said he had no problem with Caminero calling his actions art, as long as "he could bear the legal consequences".

	I smashed my own belongings whereas he broke others'. Behavioural art can go to extremes

	Artist Ai Weiwei
Caminero told police his act was a performance protest against the Miami museum, which only displays works by international artists.
The broken piece is one of 16 called Coloured Vases displayed at Ai's exhibition "According to What?", which opened last year.
Ai covered the vases with brightly coloured paints and a similar work fetched over US$156,000 at auction in London two years ago.
Caminero insisted that he was unaware he was destroying a valuable artwork during his protest.
"I didn't know that it was that amount [US$1 million]," he said, adding he thought it was "a common clay pot like you would find at Home Depot, frankly".
Additional reporting by Reuters in Miami


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Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei not amused by smashing of US$1m vase 

Ai Weiwei's colourful pottery at the art museum in Miami. Photo: Photo: EPA

Artist Ai Weiwei. Photo: Simon Song

Florida artist Maximo Caminero. Photo: EPA

The smashed vase. Photo: EPA

‘I thought it was a Home Depot pot’: Painter charged for smashing museum’s US$1m Ai Weiwei vase

Ai Weiwei. Photo: EPA

A screengrab from the Perez Art Museum Miami (pamm.org) shows Ai Weiwei's installation "According to What?" The brightly painted vases and photos of Ai breaking urns can be seen in the far right.

The suspect destroyed one of the ancient vases from Ai Weiwei's installation "According to What?" at the Perez museum. Photo: EPA

Exhibition offers glimpse of Kowloon Walled City and Ai Weiwei's home

Queen Mathilde of Belgium (left) visits a Business of Design Week event yesterday. Photo: Dickson Lee

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News

China

Smashing a million-dollar vase in the name of art is justified ‘if you own the piece’, says Ai Weiwei 


Artist Ai Weiwei, who was famously photographed breaking a Han dynasty urn earlier in his career, told the South China Morning Post smashing up a piece of art was acceptable, but only if you own it.


Ai Weiwei not amused by smashing of US$1m vase

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Smashing a million-dollar vase in the name of art is justified ‘if you own the piece’, says Ai Weiwei

Smashing a million-dollar vase in the name of art is justified ‘if you own the piece’, says Ai Weiwei