Ai Weiwei

Washington D.C.

The exhibition Ai Weiwei: According to What demonstrates the artist’s broad artistic practice and includes sculpture, photography, audio, video, and site-specific installations. Ai Weiwei is one of China’s most prolific and provocative contemporary artists. He is best known for projects such as his collaboration with architects Herzog & de Meuron on the design of the 2008 Beijing Olympic National Stadium, as well as his embrace of the internet and social media as an active platform for commentary and as an art form in itself. He has also become internationally recognized as a result of his actions that challenge the political status quo in China. Despite his arrest and detention for eighty-one days in 2011, Weiwei has continued to create art that transcends dualities between East and West, focusing on fundamental questions about the interrelations between art, culture, society, and individual experience.

Many of his works employ simple forms and methods that evoke and play with notions of Conceptual and Minimal art, while others manipulate traditional furniture, ancient pottery, and daily objects in ways that question cultural values and political authority. More recent works address his ongoing investigation into the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake as well as his detention and continual surveillance by Chinese authorities. In each piece, Ai emphasizes the value and place of the individual within society.

Exhibition catalogue

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden‎

October 7th, 2012 – February 24th, 2012
700 Independence Avenue Southwest
Washington, DC 20560
USA

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