Ai Weiwei
May 24, 2023
Kunsthal Rotterdam is proud to present a large-scale exhibition by one of today’s most prominent artists, the activist, and critic of authoritarian power systems Ai Weiwei. Opening this autumn, In Search of Humanity will be his most comprehensive retrospective to date. Including cultural ready-mades, paintings, works made from LEGO bricks, sculptures, installations, photography, and video works, the exhibition will present an impressive overview of Ai Weiwei's over-four-decades-spanning career and feature key works from all his different creative periods.
This must-see exhibition offers an insight into the life of the world-famous Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei, such as his childhood spent in exile as a result of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the suppressed students’ protests in Beijing, and his personal incarceration in 2011. His artworks show his quest for humanity and a better world. The artist believes we all have a responsibility to take action against threats to freedom of speech and violations of human rights – from the Chinese government’s intimidation techniques and the call for freedom, to warfare and the global refugee crisis.
LEGO ARTWORKS AND PORCELAIN SUNFLOWER SEEDS
The exhibition shows 120 of his artworks, including Forever Bicycles (2003), a large bicycle sculpture made from bicycles without handlebars to emphasize that you are not in control, in reference to the dominant Chinese regime. With Sunflower Seeds (2010), a floor with 100 thousand hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds, Ai Weiwei challenges the ‘Made in China’ mantra that China is known for. Also shown are the iconic photographs in which he raises his middle finger to famous international monuments as symbols of power. With little LEGO bricks Ai Weiwei realises disturbing images, for instance of a drowned refugee in After the Death of Marat (2018), or of his arrest in Illumination (2019), thereby robbing this popular toy of its childlike innocence.
THE EXHIBITION WILL BE ON DISPLAY FROM 30 SEPTEMBER.
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