Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983 to 1993

in asiasociety.org


“The New York I knew no longer exists. ... Looking back on the past, I can see that these photographs are facts, but not necessarily true. ... The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.”
— Ai Weiwei, 2008
Asia Society Museum presents an exhibition of 227 photographs taken by famed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, capturing the history, culture, and atmosphere of 1980s New York from his unique perspective.

The exhibition marks the first time Ai Weiwei's New York Photographs series is being shown outside of China.

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds

by Van and Jennings Carney of Pontiak
in lostateminor.com


I got to see this exhibit at the Tate in London last November after a European tour. Weiwei commissioned workshops in Jingdezhen, China to make 100 million unique, hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds. Then they were transported to London and spread across the turbine hall floor in a thick blanket.

Graphic designer Aram Bartholl

Ai Weiwei glasses

by Lamia Larkin
in lostateminor.com

Graphic designer Aram Bartholl is showing his support for Chinese artist Ai Weiwei with these these awesome F**k Everything glasses. You, too, can can wear these cynical shades and show your support by downloading the PDF here. Download, print, cut, and enjoy! Who doesn’t love D.I.Y art with a message?

Reţinerea dizidentului Ai Weiwei

Cea mai dură represiunea împotriva activiştilor şi disidenţilor chinezi

de Andra Ciubotaru
în hotnews.ro

Ai Weiwei, unul dintre cei mai proeminenţi artişti din China, co-designer al Stadionului Olimpic "Bird's Nest" (Cuib de Pasăre) din Beijing şi un critic deschis al Guvernului, a fost reţinut de către autorităţile chineze în timp ce se pregătea să se îmbarce la bordul unei aeronave cu destinaţia Hong Kong. Până la acest moment, Weiwei rămâne de necontactat, iar autorităţile nu au precizat motivele concrete ale detenţiei şi nu au furnizat informaţii cu privire la locul în care se află artistul. Reţinerea lui Weiwei a stârnit un val de reacţii la nivel internaţional. Oficialii Ministerului chinez de Externe au declarat că artistul este suspectat de "infracţiuni economice".

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds to go on sale at Sotheby's

by maevkennedy
in guardian.co

Anyone who missed the chance to romp among the handpainted ceramic seeds created by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at Tate Modern will soon get another opportunity – but the close encounter will cost up to £120,000.For the first time a sackful of the seeds is to be sold officially at a Sotheby's auction of contemporary art next month.

Ai Weiwei - statul chinez îi demolează atelierul

China artist Ai Weiwei's Shanghai studio demolished

Chinese demolition workers have torn down the Shanghai studio of the artist Ai Weiwei - a move he says is linked to his political activism. Mr Ai said the demolition crews arrived without warning on Tuesday and flattened the building within a day.He originally had permission to build the studio, but later officials ordered it to be destroyed, saying he had failed to follow planning procedures.

Sursa BBC News

Ai Wei Wei at Tate Modern - the Turbine Hall Commission

You might remember we told you some time ago that Ai Wei Wei prepares a surprise for Tate Modern this autumn. The surprise is here.

Adrian Searle reports for The Guardian:

At first sight Ai Weiwei's installation Sunflower Seeds presents us with an undifferentiated field of grey, filling the space between the bridge and the end wall of Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. It is almost disappointing. The late Felix Gonzalez-Torres's piles of cellophane-wrapped sweets, which he showed in the 1980s, were prettier, and you were free to eat them (the American artist liked the idea that people could leave his shows with a nice taste lingering in their mouths). But the sweets were also metaphors for the Aids crisis, and much besides. Nothing in art is what it seems. And you can't eat a single one of Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds, any more than you could Marcel Duchamp's marble sugar cubes. They'd break your teeth. Read more in The Guardian.

Photo © The Guardian

Interviu cu Ai Weiwei: viaţa, arta, libertate de expresie

Ai Weiwei: "Life is never guaranteed to be safe"

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist who will soon take over Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, talks to The Guardian on why he wants to tell people that it's OK to speak out. Check out the interview on The Guardian's website.

More on the same (text and video) HERE.

Ai Weiwei, în curând la Tate Modern

Tate Modern Turbine Hall to host China's Warhol

Ai Weiwei, China's most famous living artist, becomes the 11th person to receive the UK's most popular public art commission.

photo © The Guardian

Un revolutionar adevarat: Ai Weiwei

Un artist chinez cu aura Andy Warhol, cel care a inspirat noul stadion olimpic din Beijing nu va lua parte la ceremonia de deschidere a Olimpiadei. Un critic acerb al guvernului comunist, Weiwei nu i-a iertat niciodata pentru exilarea tatalui sau in timpul Revolutiei Culturale.
Rachel Cooke raporteaza pentru The Guardian.