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Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin
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Berlin Tempelhof Airport
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Ai Weiwei «Evidence» in Berlin
[26th June 2014-10:26am]
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Ai Weiweis «Evidence»-exhibit in the Martin-Gropius-Bau - do not mistake with Walter Gropius. With the eye only, his work is not to be grasped. Only the con-text shows the intensity of his objects. The biggest single exhibit of Ai Weiwei, till today.
Object texts of the exhibit
Untitled, 1988
Two rain coats and coat rack, 190 x 60 x 60 cm
The emergence of a little-understood disease known as AIDS changed the social fabric of urban centers across the globe in the 1980s. In Untitled, Ai draws on Duchamp's readymade (found object) to lambaste the fear driving the safe sex campaigns of the time.
Table and Chest with stripped chars, 2007
Wooden table and chest, chairs from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Dimensions variable
Old furniture that has been used over time gains a patina which gives the item a beautiful sheen as well as showing the furniture's age. Following the removal of a 1mm layer from the original surface, the Ming Dynasty table and chairs look as if they were brand new. By eliminating traces of use and their history, Ai Weiwei asks viewers to consider questions of authenticity and the value and meaning of antiques and original artworks.
Very Yao, 2009-2014
150 bicycles, Dimensions variable, 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 trail 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 offices. Following a series of unfair judicial projected, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
Surveillance Camera, 2010
Marble, 39 x 39 x 19 cm
Amidst an ongoing conversation about rights of privacy and widespread government surveillance, Surveillance Camera speaks to the permanence of these recordings. The cameras on display here are exact replicas of the seventeen surveillance cameras that the police positioned outside Ai's studio home in Beijing.
He Xie, 2011
Porcelain, Dimensions variable
In recent years, Chinese government propaganda has used the term "he xie" or "harmonious" to describe an ideal contemporary Chinese society. The undertones of the word, however, imply absolute conformity, and serve as an excuse for violence in "stability maintenance". Internet activist quickly latched onto to the term as a threat to plurality and freedom of speech. The river crab is a homophonic pun on the word he xie, a fitting image for a society where criticism must be indirect and language takes on highly encoded meanings to evade censorship. In 2010, in order to protest the Shanghai government unreasonably demolishing his newly-built studio in Shanghai, Ai Weiwei held a river crab feast for online followers who went to the site to voice their support. He was illegally placed under house arrest for the first time.
Untitled, 2011
Office supplies confiscated from FAKE studio during Ai Weiwei's detention, Dimensions variable
On April 3, 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested by the police as he went through at Beijing Capital International Airport. That same morning, over a hundred police officers raided the FAKE studio and confiscated over 150 office supplies and equipment items. Untitled presents a section of the computer, laptops, hard drives, USB drives, voice recorders, etc. that were taken away on that occasion as "criminal evidence" in the information age.
IOU, 2011-2013
Wallpaper, Dimensions variable
In 2011, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was secretly detained by the authorities for 81 days. After his release, officials claimed that Ai Weiwei possessed "actual control" of Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd. And that the company had evaded "huge amounts of taxes". The authorities claimed 15.22 million yuan (1.7 Mio €) in back taxes and fines from the company, and demanded payment with 15 day. The punishment was widely regarded as political retaliation for Ai Weiwei's insistence of freedom of speech and expression, as well as his political opinions. Fabricated charges and smear campaigns are common "stability-maintenance" tactics that the authorities exercise to persecute dissidents. Once the news broke out, within ten days almost 30,000 netizens had lent Ai Weiwei money totaling 899.6 thousand yuan (1.064.00 €). This was an unprecedented example of the public casting votes in alternative forms, openly expressing its discontent and disappointment with the government's ridiculous behavior, and voicing their support for Ai Weiwei and the morals the case stands for. In turn, Ai Weiwei created promissory notes to commemorate the occasion.
The Promissory note measures 26 cm x 37 cm and is divided into two halves. The money-lender keeps the right half with information including the note number, the lender's name, amount lent, Ai Weiwei's stamp and signature, and specially designed stamps corresponding to the loan amount. Ai Weiwei retains the left half, which contains contact information such as the lender's name and address.
The loan, the IOU's, and the process of repaying loans have transformed the case into an online celebration and an artistic activity that involves the collective participation and expression of citizens. It is a work of lasting significance that manifests the power of social media commentary and united citizenship.
Souvenir from Shanghai, 2012
Concrete and brick rubble from Ai Weiwei's destroyed Shanghai Studio, rosewood bedframe from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), 380 x 170 x 260 cm
Erly in 2008, Ai Weiwei was invited by district authorities in Shanghai to build a stdio 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 place 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.
Mask, 2013
Marble, 80 x 80 x 30 cm
The profusion of manufacturing and consumption, together with unbalanced policies and regulations have created the now infamous smog across China, with air quality levels regularly exceeding acceptable standards for health and survival. Carved from a single block of marble, Mask depicts a personal air-filtering mask atop a tombstone.
81, 2013
Mixed media, 750 x 390, 290 cm
During Ai Weiwei's 81-day detention, he was held in an isolated cell at a secret military police base in the suburbs of Beijing. The cell was 7.2 by 3.6 meters, and all objects inside were wrapped in white foam. The lights were on 24 hours a day. There were three cameras in the cell. Two were placed diagonally in the main space, and a third one in the bathroom. Five groups of military police officers guarded him closely 24 hours a day, in pairs and in rotating shifts. 81 is an exact replica of the prison cell and the conditions inside.
Han Dynasty Vases with Auto Paint, 2014
Han Dynasty vases (202 BC-220 AC) and auto paint, Dimensions variable
From the Colored Vases series, Ai covert 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 the 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.
Diaoyu Islands, 2014
Marble, Dimensions variable
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 öf Diaoyu at reduces scale. The monumentality of the installation continues Ai's experimentations with scale, materials, and transforming reality into tangible experiences.
Stools, 2014
Wooden stools, Dimensions variable
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 connection individual stools, covering the tile floor of Martin Gropius-Bau's atrium. It harkens back of Soft Ground, 2009, an exact replication in carpet of the travertine floor at Munich's Haus der Kunst.
Sichuan Earthquake Works
On May 12, 2008, an earthquake of 8.0-magnitude hit Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province, Chine, killing nearly 70,000 people and injuring over 370,000. Among the casualties, thousands of schoolchildern were buried alive in collapsed school campuses, causing widespread suspicion among public about the construction quality of such government-built sites.
Ten day after the earthquake, Ai Weiwei and his assistants visited several affected counties, including severely-hit Beichuan.
On March 10, 2009, 300 days after the earthquake, the Sichuan provincial government claimed that it is difficult to give an exact number of student victims.
On March 20, 2009, in response to the government's lack of transparency, Ai launched "Citizens' Investigation" to compile a name list of the students who died in the earthquake.
Frog, 2008-2012
Steel rebar (5 to 25 tons each), 8000 x 4600 cm
Ai gathered nearly 200 tons of steel rebar from the collapsed buildings of Beichuan Middle School, the site of the largest number of student deaths during the earthquake, and sent them back to his Beijing studio. Through the efforts of many workers for over a year, 150 tons of twisted steel from the ruins were straightened so that they looked as if they had just left the manufacturing plan.
Rebar in Marble, 2012
Marbel, 77 x 51 x 27 cm, 65 x 55 x 8,5 cm, 124 x 59 x 18 cm
Rebar in Marble replicates the objects that caused death and injury in the disaster turning the mangled rods into marble sculptures. In cloning the relics of disaster, the chaos and pain of the tragedy are transformed into the elegance and precision of the replicas, and arduous labor into the memory of an absurd historical fact.
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