Go See – Tokyo: ‘AI WEIWEI: ACCORDING TO WHAT?’ at Mori Art Museum through Nov 8, 2009
August 22nd, 2009
Ai Weiwei, “Table with Three Legs” (table from the late Ming or early Qing Dynasty), at Mori Art Museum
Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum is currently showing the one of the largest solo shows ever by Ai Weiwei. The exhibition reveals the artist’s range of genre, featuring 26 works of sculpture, photography, video, and installation that at turns treasures and condemns Chinese history. Six included pieces were finished specifically for the show, which runs through November 8, 2009.
Related links:
Mori Art Museum
eye for an ai [scene & herd]
Who is Ai Weiwei? [ArtInfo]
Escape from Propaganda [The Japan Times]
Chinese Artist Says He Was Barred From Rights Advocate’s Trial [The New York Times]
According to What? by Ai Weiwei, Tokyo [Wallpaper]
Ai Weiwei, “Snake Ceiling” (backpacks), at Mori Art Museum. Via ArtInfo.
more images and story after the jump…
The exhibition is divided into three sections. “Fundamental Forms and Volumes” features a new installation of blocks of Chinese tea, as well as a series of cubic forms accompanied by a video tour of Beijing. ”Structure and Craftmanship” is comprised of the “Maps” and “Furniture” series, the latter of which has been under development since 1997. ”Moon chest” rounds out the section, which works to bring highlight the overlap between art and architecture. Finally, the third section, “Reforming and Inheriting Tradition,” consists of works based on artifacts from the Neolithic period and the Han and Tang Dynasties, along with a series of pieces that gain their material from the Qing Dynasty. Weiwei’s “Fairytale” (2007), for which he brought 1,001 Chinese people to Europe, is also represented here, in a two-hour documentary. In other words, “According to What?” focuses on Weiwei’s work as it is borne of and interacts with national history, culture, and identity. It begins with a play on China’s “building blocks,” so to speak, moves to the physical layout of the country with maps and more, and finishes with recreations, literally and figuratively, of Chinese history.
Ai Weiwei, “Teahouse” (432 compressed tea cubes/prisms), at Mori Art Musem. Via ArtInfo.
Ai Weiwei, “Ton of Tea” (one ton compressed tea), at Mori Art Museum.
Ai Weiwei, “Moon Chest” (Huali wood), at Mori Art Museum. Via ArtInfo.
The exhibition also includes “Snake Ceiling,” Weiwei’s response to a 2008 earthquake that killed thousands of children, littering the ground around school buildings with the backpacks which comprise the installation. In his blog, which was subsequently forced to close, Weiwei claimed that local officials pocketed money from building funds, and that weak school buildings contributed to the high number of victims, which the Chinese government refused to disclose at the time. ”Snake Ceiling,” the artist’s homage to the earthquake’s dead, has hundreds of black and white backpacks descending in the shape of a coiled snake from the gallery ceiling.
Ai Weiwei, “Colored Vases” (21 Neolithic vases and industrial paint), at Mori Art Museum. Via ArtInfo.
Ai Weiwei, “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn” (lambda prints), at Mori Art Museum. Via ArtInfo.
Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei studied at the Beijing Film Academy before working with the art collaborative “Xinxing (The Stars).” In 1981 he moved to the United States, where he enrolled at New York’s Parson’s School of Design before returning to China in 1993 to found China Art and Archive Warehouse, which supports young Chinese artists. Weiwei has shown at various celebrations of art, including the 2008 Venice Biennale, Documenta 12, the 2008 Liverpool Biennial, and the 2006 Biennial of Sydney. He has had solo shows at Haus der Kunst, Munich; Photography Art Center, Beijing; Friedman Benda, New York; Mary Boone Gallery, New York; Instiut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain; Cobra Museum, Amsterdam; London’s Tate Modern; and more.
Ai Weiwei, “Map of China” (Tieli wood from dismantled temples of the Qing Dynasty), at Mori Art Museum.
Ai Weiwei, “Bowl of Pearls” (porcelain, freshwater pearls), at Mori Art Museum.
Ai Weiwei, “Cubic Meter Tables” (Huali wood) at Mori Art Museum.
Ai Weiwei, “Coca Cola Vase” (vase from the Tang Dynasty), at Mori Art Museum.
Ai Weiwei, “Forever” (42 bicycles), part of his new solo show at Mori Art Museum.
- R. Fogel
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September 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
What is the DSL collection?
The dsl Collection was created in 2005 and focuses on contemporary Chinese art. It is a private collection currently representing 90 of the leading Chinese avant-garde artists, most of whom have a major influence on the development of contemporary art in China today. Even though it focuses on the contemporary production of works of art of all media of a specific culture, the collection is not guided by the search for an ‘otherness’. It admits basic cultural similarities and dispositions and goes beyond the simplistic approach of looking for typical cultural signs and symbols.
The collection is not only significant on a personal level, but also on a larger scale. We start from a museum approach, which means that we are collecting a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. Furthermore, the choice of works is not oriented on the trends of the market. To choose this kind of approach implies making the collection accessible for the public, as well as documenting the featured works.
The major tools to achieve these goals is the use of new technologies, such as the internet and interactive programs and supports, like for example electronic books. These tools provide the means to share the experience of contemporary culture and to make it more accessible and meaningful for a broader public.
How did we become interested in Chinese art?
Art is the mirror of a Society.
When my wife and I came to Shanghai for the first time in 2005, I felt that there was another logic existing here; something that speaks of a very schizophrenic attitude towards economic development. The city embodies a ceaseless pursuit of the “superhuman” that redefines traditional definitions of humanity, sustainability, scale, and speed. Somehow these feelings were very inspiring and we wanted to find art and artists that express the relationships between contemporary art production and society. We are also interested by the Chinese artists who are living outside mainland China, in Taiwan, for instance, and mainly in the Chinese Diaspora in Europe and the United States. These artists have played a decisive role in defining Chinese contemporary art to audience outside China.
One should also not forget that apart from having a 6000 (5,000?) year-old cultural history, China is the biggest cultural space in the world.
How is our collection different than other collections?
We never compare our collection with others because every collection is by nature unique. However, we follow strict personal guide lines in building our collection.
About Collecting, how do you approach it?
“Collecting,” is not “accumulating.” and it is not “investing.” It is acquiring objects that have some relation to each other and putting those objects into the kind of order that reflects the collector’s response to them. Each true collection achieves a personality beyond and apart from the sum of the objects. I feel also that diversity is one of the main strengths of a collection.
What role does the Collector play?
The Collector should not take centre stage himself and should let the art itself be at the centre of the collection. Artists should be given the maximum spotlight. My role, my real power is to make that happened (My role and my aim is to make this happen. Its what the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist calls “the fundamental invisibility.”
What is the the dsl Collection viewpoints?
- A museum approach
At first we looked at Chinese art according to our personal tastes, but we very soon realized that very few people were systematically collecting Chinese contemporary art, either in China or outside — neither institutions, nor individuals had a museum approach and even less so a university museum approach.
And why this kind of approach?
University museums are unlike other museums. They are not intended to have a powerhouse of masterworks on display, though some have their share of these. They are, before all else, teaching instruments intended for students and scholars to use in a hands-on way. As such, they often house objects that are considered of second- and third-tier value at auction but that fill out a deep and detailed account of cultural history. Intellectual adventure is privileged over box-office appeal.
- Education and entertainment
Entertainment and education have quite different intents, but they can be integrated to achieve both aims. Certainly the demand from younger people has shifted strongly to only paying attention if content is truly entertaining. Beyond that, Art is fundamentally about providing experiences. People today seek engaging and powerful experiences.
In such a large country, how do you choose your artists?
We try at the same time to acquire new works from emerging artists and maintaining interest in the works of China’s more established big names. We are always keen to find individuals who are interested to see where the prevailing boundaries lie, either in terms of content, of materials, of disciplines and how they can push these open; I respond most to art that has powerful links to both the times and the context in which it was created.
We think also that chinese contemporary art at the moment is in the process of breaking away from the Western art canon, which has sort of hit a dead end.
What is our focus?
In this New Age, a private collection is also about inspiring people.
Dsl collection would like to become a platform that is accessible to everybody from everywhere. A place where people can have exciting experiences, build their knowledge and actively participate. With the help of curators and critics we try to get the audience engaged and, consequently, move ideas forward and extend interest in Chinese contemporary art. We see the dsl collection as a place that provides experiences with content and also enables participatory experiences–with other people, both visitors and experts.
Consequently, apart from building the collection, dsl is carrying two strategies aimed at increasing and deepening participation and developing education.
Why is the internet platform interesting in our collection?
Having chosen a museum approach, we felt an obligation to make the works available to the public. The challenge of attracting audiences is hardly new.
We have to admit that many brick and mortar museums for the most part are kind of hidden jewels .They do not have great foot traffic and often they are unable to exhibit many of their important works at the same time.
That is why, as for showing the works we have decided upon, to primarily use technology by creating a website: dslcollection.org. Nevertheless, nothing will ever replace a direct contact between the audience and an artwork.
dsl collection has also adopted many of the internet tools to increase the audience. This is done by creating interactive and participatory forms of engagement and altering the traditional relationship between art and its audience. The online technology allows this flexibility. Our daughter Karen is more and more involved in the collection is focussing in particular on social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook and Second Life.
These latest online services are creating new, more interactive and participatory forms of engagement and altering the traditional relationship between art and its audience.
Does the internet platform play a larger role in China than in the West , and why?
The internet is important because It renders possible an ” EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME” experience!
This choice is even more important in the case of China where you currently have 300 million people connected and 100 million personal blogs.
Will there be a space to eventually view the collection?
We are working on the concept of a nomad collection that could go from China to Europe and the United States. Meanwhile many works are on loan to museums or biennales. We are of the principle that whenever an artist wants to have his work exhibited, it should always be made available. We would like to have the first exhibition of the collection in a museum in the United States
How will the collection evolve?
The collection is limited to a specific number of art works – about 150 pieces – that, as an entity, is open to constant redefinition. Openness, movement and communication are basic qualities we want to promote. Another important point: When we collect a work of art, you are essentially acquiring not just one work of art but a part in the artist’s entire body of work which is known as an oeuvre. It means that if this oeuvre evolves in a direction that is not the good one for us we decease the work.
We shall focus more and more on education by being ever more present in China in particular. In 2010 dsl collection will be in charge of an Art Management course at the Shanghai University.
Why is art important? What inspires us?
Art is a way to make our life better. It is not about inanimate objects, but about connecting to people. Thanks to this collection we discovered a great country with great people and a great culture