AI WEIWEI: EVIDENCE AT MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU BERLIN
April 3, 2014 – July 13, 2014
AI WEIWEI: EVIDENCE AT MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU BERLIN
April 3, 2014 – July 13, 2014
Modernism is the original creation of enlightened human beings, it
is the ultimate observation of the meaning of existence and the misery of
reality; it keeps a wary eye on society and power; it never makes compromises
and never cooperates.
Ai Weiwei 1997 (quoted from “Ai Weiwei - Der verbotene Blog”,
Galiani: Berlin, 2011)
Despite all the incredible hostility shown him in his own country
Ai Weiwei decided to put on his largest one-man exhibition yet in Berlin’s
Martin-Gropius-Bau. On 3,000 square metres in 18 rooms and the spectacular
Lichthof he will be displaying works and installations which were either
designed for the Martin-Gropius-Bau or have not yet been shown in Germany.
The name he has given to his exhibition is “Evidence”, a term well
known beyond the English-speaking world from American TV crime series in the
meaning of proof that will stand up in court. It is a political exhibition that
Ai Weiwei has designed for Berlin in his simple and spacious studio in the
rural outskirts of Beijing.
In spite of all the hostile oppression he has been facing in his
own country, Ai Weiwei has decided to put on his largest one-man exhibition yet
at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau. Across 3,000 square metres, 18 rooms and in the
spectacular Lichthof he will display works and installations that were either
designed specifically for the Martin-Gropius-Bau or have not yet been shown in
Germany.
The name he has given to his exhibition is “Evidence”, a word that
will be, a term well known beyond the English-speaking world from American
crime series on TV to mean proof that will stand up in court. From his simple
but spacious studio on the rural outskirts of Beijing, Ai Weiwei has created a
deeply political exhibition for Berlin.
Ai Weiwei is an artist, architect and politician. Very few of his
works do not contain hidden allusions to internal Chinese affairs or to the
subject of “China and the West” in general. One must learn to spot the ironical
historical and political references in his works, which he sends out into the world
like messages in bottles.
Ai Weiwei is one of the most internationally renowned artists
working today, this did not prevent the Chinese authorities from detaining him
illegally for 81 days (81, 2014). He was kept in a cell in a secret prison
where the light was switched on for 24 hours a day and he was always
accompanied by two guards. He later reproduced the handcuffs with which had
shackled him to a chair during his imprisonment from the precious material jade
(Jade Handcuffs, 2013).
Random arrests and corruption happen to regular Chinese citizens on
a daily basis. Ai Weiwei refuses to accept this status quo. He demands freedom
of speech, a fair distribution of power, and multiparty democracy. The infinite
variety of forms offered by conceptual art allows him to express his ideas in a
country where freedom of expression does not exist.
He is also one of the most famous artists in China. In recent
years, official Chinese propaganda has attempted to erase him from public
consciousness. He is not allowed to exhibit in any museum in China. Ai Weiwei’s
instant response to this tactic was to turn the Internet into his permanent
exhibition space: his now banned blogposts are outstanding, as is his current
presence on Instagram.
Although he is allowed to work in his studio, a dozen surveillance
cameras have been placed before his door. His ironic response was to hang red
lanterns on them and reproduce them in marble (Marble Surveillance Cameras,
2010). The actions of the regime have been incorporated into his conceptual
art. Although he is allowed to travel within China, every step he takes is
monitored by undercover agents. His passport has been confiscated to prevent
him from travelling abroad.
Among the works and installations on display at the Martin-Gropius-Bau
will be a golden copy of the zodiac sculptures (Golden Zodiac, 2011) cast in
bronze (c. 1750) by Chinese craftsmen according to designs by the Europeans
Castiglione and Benoist. They formed part of a kind of sun and water clock and
were located in a garden commissioned by the Emperor which also featured
buildings in the European style. In 1860, after the end of the Second Opium
War, the entire garden was ransacked and torched by the rapacious British and
French soldiers that had conquered Beijing in order to force China to take part
in the opium trade. Some of these bronze zodiac figures found their way to
Europe, and when they turned up in Paris in 2008 at an auction of Yves
Saint-Laurent’s art collection they caused a sensation in the Chinese cultural sphere.
Ai Weiwei does not accept the Chinese government’s stance, that these bronze
figures are Chinese national treasures, declaring that, rather, they belong to
the whole world.
Ai Weiwei recreates the disputed Pacific Diaoyu Islands (Diaoyu
Islands, 2013) in marble taken from a quarry near Beijing for the exhibition at
the Martin-Gropius-Bau. Formed from the same marble used by China’s emperors
for the Forbidden City as well as by the country’s present rulers for the Mao
Mausoleum, his intention is to give an artistic form to a conflict that
threatens today’s globalized world.
These instant transformations of current political affairs into art
are characteristic of some of the artist’s most important installations. Thus,
the twisted reinforcing steel rods recall the terrible earthquake in Sichuan
(Forge, 2008-2012; Forge bed, 2008-2012) and the 80,000 lives it claimed and
through this, the mismanagement and corruption that exacerbated the disaster.
The same can be said of his major work “1,800 Cans of Powdered Milk”, which he
exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time in 2013 – a commentary on the scandal
that erupted world-wide after Chinese children were poisoned by contaminated
milk powder resulting from lax inspections.
Ai Weiwei often uses ancient Chinese materials as well. He has
occasionally said, that he wants to provoke an emotional reaction in the
spectator by using contradictory elements – for instance, when he dips ancient
ceramic vases from the Han Dynasty period (202 BC – 220 AC) in car paint in the
same shades as are currently en vogue with the German luxury car owners in
Beijing (Han Dynasty Vases with Auto Paint, 2013).
He adopts an equally playful approach both to Serialism, an ancient
tradition that can be found in historical Buddhist temples, as well as to
Minimalism, which was characteristic of the Song Dynasty period (960-1126).
Transferring Chinese art’s traditional and familiar iconography to today‘s
“universal language” of globally practiced conceptual art.
In 2008, Ai Weiwei was invited by the Shanghai City Council to
construct a very large studio. But upon its completion, the authorities had it
instantaneously demolished within a single day, since the artist had dared to
criticize the government. But Ai Weiwei created a work of art from his studio’s
wreckage entitled “Souvenir from Shanghai” (2012).
In the large Lichthof of the Gropiusbau, the artist has assembled
6,000 simple wooden stools (Stools, 2014) of the type that have been used in
the Chinese countryside for hundreds of years, since the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). The result is an aesthetically pleasing, pixel-like work. These
stools, according to Ai Weiwei, are an expression of the centuries-old
aesthetic of rural China.
Ai Weiwei is promoting a dialogue with western audiences about
China. His revolutionary use of conceptual art began in 1993, after he left New
York to return to China, a country which only allowed its artists to use
certain forms of expression. After all, whoever controls the form also controls
the content. Ai Weiwei resisted this control, creating his own discourse on
free speech and freedom to publish. The artists he most admires include Marcel
Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Giorgio Morandi.
But Ai also sees himself in the tradition of the Chan (Zen)
philosopher Hui Neng (638-713), whom he regards as the radical champion of
unlimited expression, a man who rebelled against the Confucian-Buddhist
orthodoxy of his time. During the Cultural Revolution (c. 1969), the Red Guards
destroyed Hui‘s temple in southern China. His worship however, has since been
resumed.
A comprehensive catalogue provides extensive background information
on the exhibition with articles by Uta Rahman-Steinert on Ai Weiwei’s treatment
of tradition; Wulf Herzogenrath on the artist’s various approaches to his art;
Klaus Ruitenbeek on the Chinese element in the work of Ai Weiwei and by Thomas
W. Eller on the material rhetoric of aesthetic resistance.
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/gropiusbau/programm_mgb/mgb14_ai_wei_wei/ausstellung_ai_weiwei/veranstaltungsdetail_80214.php
You may visit Ai Weiwei' exhibition news German Pavilion Bang Installation at Venice Bienalle 2013 to click below link.
http://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com.tr/2013/06/ai-weiwei-s-bang-installation-at-venice.html
STOOLS 2014
Stools features over 6,000 wooden stools from Ming and Qing
dynasties and the republican period, gathered from villages across northern
China. They are a basic staple in many Chinese households. Each stool reveals
traces of regular use, with a simple design and a solid structure that speak to
a design language that remains unchanged for hundreds of years.The work forms a
surface by connecting individual stools, covering the tile floor of Martin
Gropius-Bau’s atrium. It harkens back to Soft Ground, 2009, an exact replication
in carpet of the travertine floor at Munich’s Haus der Kunst.
MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU’
DIRECTOR GEREON SIEVERNICH
150 bicycles,
dimensions variable
© Ai Weiwei
© Ai Weiwei
150 bicycles,
dimensions variable
© Ai Weiwei
© Ai Weiwei
Made from 150
bicycles, Ai Weiwei used one of China’s most ubiquitous brands, “Forever”, to
commemorate a young Beijing resident, Yang Jia. Yang’s murder trial was a
national sensation in China. He was illegally arrested for allegedly riding an
unlicensed bicycle rental, and was violently assaulted during the detention.
After unsuccessful attempts in appealing for justice, he was accused of
murdering 6 Shanghai police officers. Following a series of unfair judicial
projected, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
150 bicycles,
dimensions variable
© Ai Weiwei
© Ai Weiwei
150 bicycles, dimensions variable
© Ai Weiwei
© Ai Weiwei
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THE MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU BERLIN
THE
MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU BERLIN
The architects Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden originally
built the house in the Renaissance style as an arts and crafts museum. It was
ceremoniously opened in 1881. The Museum of Prehistory and Early History and
the East Asian Art Collection moved into the building after the First World
War, while the arts and crafts collection was transferred to the City Palace
(Stadtschloss). The building was severely damaged in 1945 during the last weeks
of World War II. It wasn’t until 1966 that it was classified as a historical
monument. Reconstruction began in 1978 under the direction of the architects
Winnetou Kampmann and Ute Weström. The house was named after Martin Gropius, a
great uncle of Walter Gropius, who had strongly urged that the museum should be
rebuilt.
Since its
meticulous restoration in the 1970s the Martin-Gropius-Bau has become one of
the most famous and most beautiful exhibition halls in Germany. Many
international exhibitions have since found a fitting venue there. Many millions
of visitors have seen the exhibitions in the Martin-Gropius-Bau. The house was
further restored in 1999/2000 with funding from the federal government.
Air-conditioning was installed and the north entrance was redesigned as the
main entrance. The architectural office of Hilmer & Sattler & Albrecht
was in charge of the reconstruction.
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/gropiusbau/ueber_uns_mgb/das_haus_mgb/geschichte.php
THE MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU BERLIN
Vases from the Han
Dynasty (202 b. C. – 220 A. D.) and auto paint
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
From the Colored Vases series, Ai covers 8 Neolithic vases in
metallic auto paint. Their smooth, even, and pristinely reflective surfaces
obscure the luster and texture of the ancient vases below. Solid colors from
the standard palette used on Mercedes-Benz and BMW automobiles, and the
conspicuous consumption and desire for power that they symbolize in Chinese
markets, create an interesting contrast with the form of the ancient vases. The
addition of surface paint both disrupts and preserves the original, and asks us
to consider how we determine the real significance of history and civilization.
Out of context each vase is no longer recognizable as an ancient artifact, yet
beneath the thin outer layer the history and complexity of the original remain
intact.
HANDCUFFS 2011
HE XIE 2013
FORGE 2008 – 2012
CIRCLE OF ANIMALS 2011
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
Ai Weiwei has reinterpreted the twelve bronze animal heads
representing the Chinese zodiac that once stood in the gardens of the Yuanming
Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness, Old Summer Palace), an imperial retreat in
Beijing. Designed in 1700 by two European Jesuits, the zodiac heads originally
functioned as a water clock fountain in Haiyan Tang. In 1860, the palace was
ransacked by French and British troops and the statues were looted together
with many other items. Only seven of the twelve figures have been traced today;
they were all repatriated to China. The work addresses the debates of
patriotism that follow questions of looting and repatriation, while continuing
Ai’s ongoing exploration of the authenticity of Chinese contemporary history
and the value of artworks.
MASK 2013
DIAOYU ISLANDS 2014 MARBLE
Known as Diaoyu Islands
in Chinese and the Senkaku Islands in Japanese, this small archipelago is the
backdrop for an intense ongoing territorial dispute that has stirred patriotic
fervor in both countries. The carved marble work conceptualizes the geopolitical
debate into a cartoonish physical presence and presents it as a topographical
sculpture of the various islands of Diaoyu at reduced scale. The monumentality
of the installation continues Ai’s experimentations with scale, materials, and
transforming reality into tangible experiences.
DIAOYU ISLANDS 2014 MARBLE
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
Concrete and brick
rubble from Ai Weiwei’s destroyed Shanghai Studio,
rosewood
bedframe from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
380 × 170 × 260 cm
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
380 × 170 × 260 cm
© Ai Weiwei. Foto © Mathias Völzke
Early in 2008, Ai Weiwei was invited by district authorities in
Shanghai to build a studio in Malu Town, Jiading District. As soon as
construction finished in 2010, he was informed that the building would be
destroyed, a chastening for his increasingly outspoken criticism of the
government. In response, he announced a river crab feast at the studio space
over the Internet, inviting the public to attend. The police placed him under
house arrest in Beijing to prevent his attendance to the feast, but over a
thousand people from across the world turned out in support. In mid-January
2011, demolition of the building started without warning. The work Souvenir from Shanghai is
made from material from the site.
AI WEIWEI
Ai Weiwei was born on August 18, 1957 as the son of Gao Ying and
the Chinese poet and dissident Ai Qing (1910-1996). In that same year, as part
of the government compaign against so called ‘’rightists’’, Ai Qing was
banished to the province of Xinjiang in the nortwest of China. Ai Weiwei grew
up there until his father was rehabilitated by the government and the family
returned to Beijing in 1976.
In 1978 Ai Weiwei registered as a student at the film Academy in
Beijing, where he studied under the Chinese directors Chen Kaige and
Zhang Yimou, et al. The same year he became a founding member of the
avant-garde artist’ group Stars, which refused to make Chinese art according to
state guidelines. The group’s exhibition at the National Art Museum in Beijing
was received with overwhelming interest from visitors.
From 1981 to 1993 Ai lived in the USA, primarily in New York City,
where he studied for some time at the Parsons School of Design. During this
time he immersed himself in photography, performance, conceptual art, and
Dadaism in particular, and became acquainted with Allen insberg, Jasper Johns,
and Andy Warhol. It was Marcel Duchamp, however, who became the most formative
influence on his work.
In 1993 Ai returned to Beijing because of his father’s ill health.
In addition to his work as an artist, he developed into one of the organizers
of the oppositional Chinese art scene. In 1994 he was a founding member and
artistic director of the gallery China Art Archives & Warehouse for
experimental art in Beijing. His publications (Black Cover Book, 1995; White
Cover Book,1995; Grey Cover Book, 1997) constitute appeals for a new, radical,
and politically engaged art.
In 2000 he and the influential curator and art critic Feng Bayi
cocurated the exhibition Fuck Off in Shanghai, which positioned itself as a
critical alternative to the 3rd Shanghai Biennale.
In 1999 Ai decided to build his own studio in Caoshangdi, which is
in the northeast of Beijing. This marked the beginning of his work as an
architect. Amongst other things, he curated the Jinhua Architecture Art Park
project in 2002, for which 16 architects from all over the world designed
buildings. His father was born in Jinhua, and the park was constructed in his
memory. In 2003 Ai founded his own architectural studio, FAKE Design, in
Beijing. From 2003 to 2008 he acted as artistic consultant to the architects
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron for the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, which
he later criticized harshly for its megalomania. It was also in collaboration
with Herzog & de Meuron that Ai curated the architectural project Ordos 100.
Uncompleted to date, this consists of a residential complex of 100
buildings, designed by 100 architects from all four corners of the globe, to be
built near the city of Ordos in inner Mongolia.
He was –and continues to be-subjected to regular reprisals by the
Chinese authorities and the police as a result of his political and social
activism. In early August 2009 Ai suffered injuries that caused a celebral
hemorrhage during a police operation in connection with his research into the
earthquake in Sichuan.
In the fall of 2010 the municipal administration of Shanghai
ordered that he vacote the big studio that he had built at the city’s
invitation. When Ai Weiwei reacted by announcing a celebration to draw the
public’s attention to the planned eviction, on November 5, 2010 he was placed
under house arrest for two days. In early December 2010 Ai was prevented from
leaving the People’s Republic of China for the first time.
In April 2011 the Chinese police arrested him at the airport in
Beijing without citing a charge as he prepared to travel to Hong Kong. He was
incarcerated in a secret jail for 81 days, during which time he was not allowed
to leave his cell. He was released only as a result of considerable
international pressure. After the Chinese tax authorities surprisingly
announced in early November 2011 that the artist should pay back taxes
amounting to 1.7 million euros, he received a large sum in donations, some of
them anonymous on most of them originating in China. The incarcerations of Ai
Weiwei by the Chinese police was the sad temporary pinnacle of the artist’s
battle for democracy and freedom of expression. For the TED conference in the
USA that same year, Ai Weiwei disseminated a video message that showed the
means with which the Chinese government attempts to monitor and intimidate the
artist, his family, and his employees.
Numerous international art events have brought Ai Weiwei
international fame. These include the exhibitions Ai Weiwei: New York
Photographs 1983-1993 (Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, then Asia
Society and Museum, New York, and Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, and elsewhere) in
2009; So Sorry (Haus der Kunst, Munich) and Sunflower Seeds (Tate Modern, London,
then Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, Cully, and Mary Boone Gallery, New York, and
further locations) in 2010; and Ai Weiwei, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads
(Pulitzer Fountain, New York, then Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Los
Angeles, and Somerset House, London, and further locations) in 2011; works
exhibited at documenta 12 in 2007 and at the Biennale in Venice in 2013; but
also his work as a curator-for example in the form of the essential exhibition
Mahjong; Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection (Kunstmuseum Bern,
and further locations) in 2005; and The State of Things. Brussels/Beijing (
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, and National Art Museum, Beijing) in 2009.
Ai Weiwei has become a globally acting artist who uses all means of
communication and is therefore present beyond all borders through his virtuoso
use of electronic media in internet projects such as #aiflowers, FakeCase.com,
#aiwwLiveStream, and through his blog, through video documentation of his
exhibitions, and through performances and projects including WeiWeiCam, a
self-surveillance project with an uninterrupted internet live transmission from
his studio and home. Worldwide recognition of Ai as a person and of his work is
also manifested in numerous prizes and honors. These not only reflect
recognition of his art, but also represent the high esteem in which his
commitment to the furthering of human rights is held.
