Ai Weiwei launches first major US exhibition
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei launches his first major US art exhibition with some unflinchingly political works, including an image of his brain bleeding from a police beating.
China’s most famous political dissident, Ai Weiwei, launches his first major US art exhibition on Sunday with some unflinchingly political works, including an image of his brain bleeding from a police beating.
The show, “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” at Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum groups sculpture, photography, video, audio and installation work.
The choice of the Hirshhorn on the National Mall reflects Ai’s desire to connect with political leaders, hundreds of foreign diplomats and the network of think tanks in the US capital, museum director Richard Koshalek told reporters.
Ai said in a statement: “This exhibition has been an opportunity to re-examine past work and communicate with audiences from afar. I see it as a stream of activities rather than a fixed entity.”
Ai’s 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry. Activists see authorities’ tax evasion case against him as an attempt to muzzle the artist over his criticism of the Chinese government.
The exhibition fills much of the ring-shaped museum with scores of Ai’s works. It centres on such themes as the relationship between art, society and individual experience.
The works include dozens of ink jet prints of the construction of Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Stadium, which he helped design, and “China Log,” a 63-inch-high (1.61-metre-high) map of China made of ironwood taken from demolished temples.