Ai Weiwei. Image source: Metalocus.es

ARTFORMS

Installation, photography, ceramic art, scupture, video.

MEDIA/ MATERIALS

Documentary, photography, video/film, ceramic

GUIDING INTEREST

Ai Weiwei is a blogger, an architect and a curator but he is most known for being a dissident and one of the most provocative artists of our time. After denouncing government corruption and lack of respect for human rights and freedom of speech in China, he was arrested, beaten, placed in isolation and forbidden to travel.

His activism has gone hand in hand with his artistic career and he has continued to produce work testifying to his political beliefs while at the same time making plenty of room for creativity and experimentation.

He is also remarkably known for his documentaries, Ai Weiwei: never sorry, Human flow and Coronation.

QUOTE

When I was a small boy, my father used to tell me about his time in jail. He almost died of pneumonia but he was always a positive man. I think I always felt jealous of him for his experience in jail. It was so important to him: it made him a great poet. And when I suddenly found myself sitting in a cell, I think I was a bit relieved. I thought: ‘Now at last, I am like you. I will use this time like you did.’ So, I memorised every crack in the ceiling, every mark on the wall. I am an artist and an architect, so I have a good memory for these things.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2019|Toronto.ca|GARDINIER MUSEUM| Ai Weiwei: Unbroken

2019|Mexico city.mx| MUAC|Resetting Memories

2019|DüsseldorfDE|Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen| Wo ist de Revolution?

2019|Rio de Janeiro, BR| CCBB|RAIZ

2018|Marseille.fr| Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations |Fan-fan

2018| Santiago, CN| CORPARTES| Inoculation

2018| Los Angeles, US|Marciano Art Foundation |Ai Weiwei: Life Cycle

2018| Doha,QA|Garage Gallery, Fire Station |Laundromat

2017| New York, US|Public Art Fund NYC|Good Fences Make Good Neighbours

2017| Copenhagen, DK| Charlottenborg Kunsthal |AI WEIWEI: SOLEIL LEVANT

2017|Palermo, IT|ZAC| Odyssey

2016|  Florence, IT|Palazzo Strozzi|Ai Weiwei. Libero

2016| Cuenca, ES|Cuenca Cathedral |S.A.C.R.E.D.

2016| Cambridge, UK| The Heong Gallery|Cubes and Trees

2016| Paris, FR | Bon Marché| Er Zi, Air de Jeu

2015|  Copenhagen, DK | Faurschou Foundation | Ruptures

2015| Melbourne, AU|National Gallery of Victoria | Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei,

2015| Beijing, CN|Chambers Fine Art |Ai Weiwei

2015| Beijing, CN | Galleria Continua |Ai Weiwei

2015| London, UK| Royal Academy | Ai Weiwei

2014| Munich, DE| Pinakothek der Moderne| Sunflower Seeds,

2014| Metro Manila, PH | Ayala Museum, Makati City | Baby Formula

2014|Vienna, AT| Christine König Galerie | ,Ai Weiwei

2013|,Seville, ES | Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo (CAAC)|Ai Weiwei. Resistance and Tradition

2013|Miami, FL, US| Perez Art Museum Miami | According to What?

2013|Venice, IT| Hotel Bauer| Ai Weiwei: Screening Room

2012|Paris.fr |JEU DE PAUME MUSEUM| entrelacs

2010| london.uk| TATE MODERN| Sunflower Seeds2010|San Hua

FORMATION

1978 | Beijing fil Academy

1981 | Parsons school of design

BIO

Currently living in Cambridge

2015-2019 |Works and lives in Berlin

1957| born in Beijing

 

SELECTED WORKS

100 millions handpainted ceramic sunflower seed
AI WEIWEI, Sun Flower Seeds, 2010, Installation view at Tate Modern, London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Han dynasty vase with the Coca-Cola logo brushed on in red acrylic paint
Ai Weiwei, Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo, 1995
‘Doubt’ from Ai Weiwei’s ‘S.A.C.R.E.D.’ (2011-13).

AWARDS

2017|Fair Play Cinema Award – Special Mention

2017|CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award

2017|Human Rights Film Network Award – Special Mention

2017|Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award – Cinema for UNICEF|Human flow

2017|Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award|Human flow

2017|Golden lion | Human flow

2013 |prize of « the spirit of independence |independant film festival of Pekin|Ping’an Yueging

2013| Artistic excellence award

2012 |the 3rd place, 100 most powerfule figures of contemporary art , artreview

2012|Rang honorable |institut Pratt

2012| Václav Havel Prize for his Dissident Creation

2010 |the first place , 100 most powerful figures of contemporary art |artreview

2010|design price | Prize for the Best New Private Residence for Residence Tsai

2010|citizen kassel price | the prism of reason

2008| lifetime Achievement price |Chinese contemporary art price

 

LINKS

Instagram

Interview

Website

AUTHOR

Artist proposal by Safa Attyaoui  | TASAWAR curatorial studios 2020

 

ELECTRICAL DISORDER
An INTERFERENCE Project

With Friedrich Boell, Rym Hayouni, and Haifa Ouerfelli
Hosted by Mohsen Bchir, Kenza Jemmali, Janet Sebri

TASAWAR Collective
& INTERFERENCE SERIES

25 February 2021 | 6.00 pm CET | Register here for free

>> Online Exhibition
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An Online Exhibition Project by TASAWAR Collective
26 January to 28 February 2021

ARTIST TALK
with the American Artist Katherine Behar about her E-Waste exhibition.
A conversation between Rania Atef, Elham Khattab, and Katherine Behar.

An Online Exhibition Project by TASAWAR Collective
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OPENING
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WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
An Online Exhibition Project by TASAWAR Collective
26 Jan to 28 Feb 2021