Discover Ai Weiwei
BACK TO ART AND DESIGN*1957 in Beijing, lives and works in Beijing
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese conceptual artist, sculptor and curator. He concerns himself with artistic forms of expression. He created pictures, books, movies, houses, installations, photographs and sculptures.
In his works he comments the grave changes that are taking place in China since the opening of the country to economy. He critisizes grave offenses against human rights, the economical exploitation and pollution of the einvironment in China. He also wants people to remember not only traditional Chinese art but also one of the founder in conceptual art and pioneer of Dadaism, Marcel Duchamp. His installations are mostly made from objects like antiquities, spiritual articles in order to put them back into a different perspective. He frequently participates in performances also during exhibitions of his art. Ai Weiwei is one of the most famous cosmopolitan artists of contemporary Chinese art.
„In the summer of 2010 Ai Weiwei visited the House of Art, Bregenz in order to organize and discuss his exhibition for the following year in 2011.
The meeting went quite intense and we were able to position all installtion on all floors. At the same time we were able to have very impressive portraits taken. On the roof as well as in the rooms of the House of Arts, Bregenz.
Unfortunately he was arrested by his own country on political reasons and thus unable to attend the opening of his exhibition.
We collected statments of solidarity from artist friends and colleagues for the KUB Billboards. We also placed bold letters, produced by Typico, on top of the roof of the House of Arts, Bregenz with the words „FREE AI WEIWEI“!
Since the opening of the House of Arts, Bregenz in 1997 we are working very closely with Typico because they have the knowhow and ability to realize all artist’s requests and ideas. Many times artist’s project reach technical limits but Typico always tries it’s best and goes far beyond in order to make it happen.“
Rudolf Sagmeister Curator Kunsthaus Bregenz
