Ai Weiwei’s art projects & exhibitions

Ai-Weiwei-–-Ton-of-Tea-2005-Puer-tea-leaves-from-Yunnan-province-with-wooden-base-100-x-100-x-100-cm-39-12-x-39-12-x-39-12-in-feat

Why did Ai Weiwei create this giant tea cube?

Sculptures / 4 minutes of reading

Ai Weiwei has never held back in terms of the amount of experimentation he’s willing to involve in his art. He has attracted much attention in China and the rest of the world for being a controversial artist. His work A Ton of Tea (2007) is easy to understand, as the name suggests, without losing […]

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This was Ai Weiwei’s refugee life jacket installation

Installations / 2 minutes of reading

Soleil Levant (2017) was created by well-known and revered Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. For this installation, Weiwei attached a total of 14,000 life jackets that had each been utilized by various refugees to the columns of Berlin’s Konzerthaus concert hall. Life Jackets was not the first installation created by Ai to highlight the

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What is Ai Weiwei’s Straight about?

Sculptures / 2 minutes of reading

90 tons of steel reinforcing bars that were destroyed and mangled in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake were essential components of the installation titled Straight by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The 150 rods of steel rebar used were meticulously straightened by hand after being recovered from the schools that had collapsed as a result of the

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Ai Weiwei’s crabs – A clever wordplay & internet censorship

Installations / 3 minutes of reading

My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. Art should live in the heart of the people. – Ai Weiwei Artist Ai Weiwei, it seems, is always surrounded by

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Our 2018 Art Basel Unlimited top 10

Installations, Performances, Photography, Sculptures / 9 minutes of reading

“In 2010, Bangkok erupted in violence with protesters from both the Left and Right, battling the military in the streets. The main weapon on both sides was the tire, both as a barricade and as improvised Molotov cocktail, rolled instead of thrown. In 2015, Rirkrit Tiravanija created an installation, untitled 2015 (bangkok boogie woogie, no.

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Ai Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles: Thousands of bicycles transformed into sculptures

Sculptures / 3 minutes of reading

Bicycles have always featured in Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s installations. The very first time that Ai used bicycles was in his installation known as Very Yao in 2008. As the years have passed, his use of bicycles has only gotten grander as is evident in his piece titled the Forever Bicycles. In Forever Bicycles, Ai

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Why did Ai Weiwei break this million-dollar Han Dynasty vase?

Performances / 4 minutes of reading

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn as an artwork is brilliant and a work of total ingenuity, but in between the lines, it says a lot about the artist: his desire to court controversy. The return of Ai Weiwei to China after living in New York City for more than a decade in 1981–1993 marked the

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Ai Weiwei’s colored vases: Clever artwork or vandalism? You decide

Performances, Sculptures / 1 minute of reading

Exhibition visitors have expressed feelings of uneasiness or even pain and nostalgia when seeing Colored Vases by Ai Weiwei. The 51 vases that make up the artwork are originally treasures from the Neolithic Age (5000–3000 BCE) and the artist has dunked them in common industrial paint. Why did Ai Weiwei do it? By doing this

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Ai Weiwei gives world his middle finger

Performances, Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist. He has been vocal and openly critical of the Chinese government’s stance on democracy and human rights. His work has captured global attention and served to bring attention to social injustices, human rights violations and systemic violence. Ai never shies away from saying what he truly feels

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Ai-Weiwei-Han-Dynasty-Vases-in-Auto-Paint-2014-Photo-Sothebys-feat

Why did Ai Weiwei dip 2,000 year old Chinese vases in paint?

Performances, Sculptures / 2 minutes of reading

The Han Dynasty Vases with Auto-Paint is a work shown as part of Ai Weiwei’s solo exhibition “Evidence”. It is a series of neolithic vases, painted smooth and shining with brightly colored automotive paint. The aged vessels are given a new context, evoking the mass marketing and luxurious consumerist appeal of the goods typically adorned

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Ai Weiwei: The Sichuan earthquake & 9000 children’s backpacks

Installations / 12 minutes of reading

Ai Weiwei is unmistakably one of the most influential and equally controversial Chinese artists in recent history. He became famous worldwide in 2009 thanks to his highly celebrated art project, Remembering, an art piece he created to honor over 80,000 Chinese, most of whom were school children who perished in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

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Ai-Weiwei-–-Sofa-in-White-2011-marble-installation-view-Paradeplatz-Zurich-Switzerland-feat

Ai Weiwei made these two uncomfortable couches from marble

Sculptures / 2 minutes of reading

It looks like somebody has misplaced two couches right in the center of Zürich, but curious passers looking for a rest will be surprised. The furniture feels hard and cold and doesn’t deliver the expected comfort. The Sofa in White are two artworks made out of marble, created by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. What the

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Ai Weiwei explains his famous Sunflower Seeds

Installations / 11 minutes of reading

Introduction Ai Weiwei emerged as a revolutionary artist on the scene of Chinese art and culture. He served as a protagonist in various dynamic avant-garde movements. His controversial exhibitions have taken the world of art by storm. He has been represented on top in the list of 100 most powerful people who belong to the

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Ai Weiwei’s art projects & exhibitions

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