Current location:business >>
Ai Weiwei launches new exhibit, says still trying to understand studio demolitions
business72People have gathered around
IntroductionBy Anna Cuenca Dissident artist Ai Weiwei on Monday said the Chinese state’s razing of his stu ...
By Anna Cuenca
Dissident artist Ai Weiwei on Monday said the Chinese state’s razing of his studios still fails to make “any sense” to him, as he launched his first design-focused exhibition, due to open in London in April.
Ai’s love of artefacts and traditional craftsmanship will be at the heart of the show which will feature hundreds of thousands of objects collected by the Chinese artist since the 1990s — from Stone Age tools to Lego bricks.
“They are punishing anybody trying to make a question or argument about their legitimacy.”
He has previously spoken of gentrification of whole neighbourhoods and the pushing out of migrant workers as possible reasons for the demolition.
Loss of cultural memory
The son of a poet revered by former communist leaders, 65-year-old Ai is perhaps China’s best-known modern artist and helped design the famous “Bird’s Nest” stadium for Beijing’s 2008 Olympics.
But he fell out of favour after criticising the Chinese government and was imprisoned for 81 days in 2011 and eventually left for Germany four years later.
Design Museum chief curator Justin McGirk said the destruction of the studios and the loss of cultural memory was “very much one of the themes of this show”.
The studios were demolished “by the state as a kind of punishment for his activism”, he said.
“The tension between handmade and industrial made is really the change that’s happened in China over the last 30 years, the tremendous scale of urbanisation and development, which brought with it a lot of destruction a lot of devaluing of history, a lot of wiping away of traditional streetscapes and architectures,” he added.
Embed from Getty ImagesObjects due to go on display include 1,600 Stone Age tools, 10,000 Song Dynasty cannon balls retrieved from a moat and donated Lego bricks which the artist began working with in 2014 to produce portraits of political prisoners.
Ai said that although “in one sense we are more advanced” now, humans were losing touch with the way things are made.
Embed from Getty Images“We lose the emotions, the whole sensitivity, the whole touch, the texture, the smell, the shape of things made by hand,” he said.
The exhibition will also feature a number of large-scale works installed outside the exhibition gallery.
They include a piece entitled “Coloured House” featuring the painted timber frame of a house that was once the home of a prosperous family during the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).
The exhibition will run from April 7-July 30.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Scope news portal”。http://sanmarino.tom-paine.com/article-66d799930.html
Related articles
Tampa Bay Rays reinstate outfielder Josh Lowe from the 10
businessST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays reinstated outfielder Josh Lowe from the 10-day injur ...
【business】
Read moreSaudi Arabia sets ambitious tourism goal
businessSaudi Arabia's tourism sector is booming after a banner year when the Arab kingdom welcomed more ...
【business】
Read moreQingdao top Shandong to seal playoffs spot in CBA
businessThe Qingdao Eagles cruised past the Shandong Heroes 119-102 to secure a place in the playoffs, while ...
【business】
Read more
Popular articles
- Human remains were found at a former Hitler base, but decay prevents determining the cause of death
- Video reviews have changed the face of European soccer. One country is holding out
- California is joining with a New Jersey company to buy a generic opioid overdose reversal drug
- China's travel boom buoys global expectations
- Lawsuit alleges decades of child sex abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers statewide
- China Eastern Airlines marks inaugural Kunming
Latest articles
Spurs' Victor Wembanyama named NBA Rookie of the Year
China's health literacy reaches 29.7 percent in 2023
EU tightens visa requirements for Ethiopians over a lack of government cooperation on deportations
Ice blocks prepared for Harbin snow world
Baby Reindeer knocked off Netflix's top spot by new 'must
Beijing warns of heavy catkin season on way
LINKS
- China bolsters online consumer protection with new regulations
- Chinese firm obtains country's 1st passenger drone production certificate
- U.S. halts freight railway crossings in western Texas to address influx of migrants
- Chinese border port Hunchun's cargo volumes set record high in Q1
- Sports equipment exports from Yiwu to France surge 70 percent ahead of Paris Olympics
- Model and influencer Nara Smith welcomes baby number three with husband Lucky Blue Smith
- Supreme Court of U.S. Michigan keeps Trump on 2024 primary ballot
- Turkish parliamentary committee okays Sweden's NATO bid
- Foreign enterprises eye bright prospects in Chinese market
- Manufacturing PMI expands in March