Share: Share on Facebook Share on X

Perspectives: Ai Weiwei

This exhibition features Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s monumental installation Fragments (2005)

Ai Weiwei. Fragments, 2005. Ironwood (tieli). Tables, chairs, parts of beams, and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Sigg Collection
Ai Weiwei. Fragments, 2005. Ironwood (tieli). Tables, chairs, parts of beams, and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Sigg Collection

.

Working with a team of skilled carpenters, Ai turned pillars and beams of ironwood salvaged from several dismantled Qing dynasty temples into a large-scale, seemingly chaotic work, which he calls an “irrational structure”.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, until 7 April 2013.

Ai Weiwei. Fragments, 2005. Ironwood (tieli). Tables, chairs, parts of beams, and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Sigg Collection
Ai Weiwei. Fragments, 2005. Ironwood (tieli). Tables, chairs, parts of beams, and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Sigg Collection

related articles…

  • Ai Weiwei: Making Sense

    Ai has a genius for incorporating pieces of everyday design into his work as a form of protest at government oppression and corruption, or as a means of questioning our cultural fixations. And where better to parade that talent than at London’s Design Museum, in…

  • Super Natural

    Tune in to being a tree, explore the world through the ‘eyes’ of a potato … Rather than dwelling on our devastation of plant life and biodiversity, this exhilarating show offers constructive ways to connect with nature

  • Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly

    Premiered at the Glastonbury Festival, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a moving and powerful documentary about the horror of political imprisonment, offering insights into the artist’s own struggles and those faced by freedom fighters across the world

  • Barbara Pollack – interview: ‘You don’t have to be Ai Weiwei to be a successful Chinese artist with an international presence’

    The writer and curator talks about the impact of the enormous social, economic, and political changes in China on the post-Cultural Revolution generation of artists, including the seven she features in her new show at the Asia Society      

  • Ai Weiwei: The Liberty of Doubt

    This exhibition may be small, but it still packs a powerful punch as Ai Weiwei mixes up his work and others’, the ancient with the modern, the fake with the authentic, and the playful with the provocative