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ai weiwei
so sorry
12 oct 09 > 17 jan 10
‘liberty is about our rights to question everything.’ (ai weiwei)
ai weiwei (*1957) is regarded as one of the most important contemporary artists in china. his project ‘fairytale’ was a highlight at the 2007 documenta in kassel and brought him international fame: for ‘fairytale’ he flew in 1001 chinese; they became part of the exhibition and their experiences part of the art. it was the largest project ever created for the documenta. together with the swiss architects herzog & de meuron, ai weiwei conceived of the national stadium for the olympic games in beijing in 2008 – the so-called ‘bird’s nest’ is already considered a landmark of the chinese capital.
for the production of his artworks ai weiwei often acquires objects such as chinese antiquities, ancient trees and tree roots, or spiritual artefacts that he subsequently transforms. whether he covers antique earthenware with industrial paints, converts centuries old temple beams into wooden maps, or drops han dynasty urns onto flagstones: ai weiwei creates new connections and through his works pointedly questions how old and new can coexist, what the new quality of tradition could look like, how does china relate to itself: ‘for something existing to develop into a new direction is not only interesting but necessary.’
besides several familiar works in different media, ai weiwei also shows two new works in so sorry that were produced especially for the haus der kunst. ‘remembering’, for example, a work for the haus der kunst’s façade, is ai weiwei’s memorial to the earthquake that took place in the chinese province of sichuan in 2008. the installation consists of 9,000 backpacks in five different colours that make up the sentence ‘for seven years she lived happily on this earth’ in chinese lettering – a sentence with which a mother of one of the earthquake victims commemorated her daughter.
ai weiwei severely criticises china’s political leadership and demands an end to censorship. in august he was briefly arrested because of his political activities. his internet blog, where he also published the names of the Sichuan victims, amongst which were 5,000 school children, has been shut down several times. upon the haus der kunst’s invitation, ai weiwei writes in the exhibition’s blog in english for the first time.
aiweiwei.blog.hausderkunst.de accompanying exhibition catalogue with documentary photographs taken during installation and with an essay by mark siemons
the art of timber construction
22 oct 09 > 24 jan 10
exhibition in the museum for architecture of the pinakothek der moderne
timber buildings dating from the 8th century still exist in china. built according to a special system they endure natural disasters. the knowledge on these characteristic timber constructions is passed on from generation to generation until today. the exhibition at the museum for architecture presents 17 large and very detailed models of the oldest timber constructions existent in china; they provide an insight into the tradition of chinese architecture. in his works, ai weiwei often makes use of such traditional chinese carpentry. in this respect the exhibition at the museum for architecture is complementary to the exhibition ‘so sorry’ at the haus der kunst.
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exhibition ‘so sorry’
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