Ai Weiwei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ai.
Ai Weiwei (Chinese: 艾未未), born in 1957 in Beijing, is a leading Chinese artist, curator and architectural designer.
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[edit] Life and work
Born in Beijing, his father was the famous Chinese poet Ai Qing, [1] denounced during the Cultural Revolution and sent off to a labor camp in Xinjiang, where WeiWei also spent five years. In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with famous Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou.[2] In 1979 he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars."
From 1981-93, he lived in the United States, mostly in New York, doing performance art and creating conceptual art by altering readymade objects. While in new York, he studied at Parsons School of Design.
In 1993, Ai returned to China because his father took ill. Back in Beijing, he helped establish the experimental artists' East Village and published a series of three books about this new generation of artists: Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Gray Cover Book (1997). [3]
In 2000 he co-curated the exhibition "Fuck Off" with curator Feng Boyi in Shanghai, China.
Weiwei was the Artistic Consultant for design, collaborating with the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, for the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics, also known as the "Bird's Nest."[4] He has since distanced himself from the project, saying, ""I've already forgotten about it. I turn down all the demands to have photographs with it," saying it is part of a "pretend smile" of bad taste.[5][6]
In 2006 he designed a private residence in the Hudson Valley region of New York. The house is designed around a significant contemporary Chinese art collection.[7]
[edit] Exhibitions
His artwork has been exhibited extensively in the United States, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, China, Korea and Japan. His work was included in the 48th Venice Biennale 1999, Italy; the First Guangzhou Triennial 2002, China; "Zones of Contact: 2006 Biennale of Sydney".[8] and Documenta 12.
[edit] References
- ^ Ai Weiwei | DLD Conference
- ^ Archinect articles
- ^ Merewether, Charles, Editor.~Essays by Jonathan Napack and Chin-Chin Yap. Ai Weiwei, Works: Beijing 1993-2003. Beijing: Timezone 8 Ltd., 2003.
- ^ Merewether, Charles, Editor.~Essays by Jonathan Napack and Chin-Chin Yap. Ai Weiwei, Works: Beijing 1993-2003. Beijing: Timezone 8 Ltd., 2003.
- ^ "Stadium designer blasts China Olympics", Aljazeera, 2007-08-12. Retrieved on 2007-07-16.
- ^ Chinese architect slams Olympic 'pretend smile'. Reuters. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
- ^ Art to live with: Asian art offers rich opportunities for creating a serious collection. Louise Nicholson talks to four distinguished American collectors, whose passions range from Indian painting and Japanese decorative arts to cutting-edge contemporary Chinese work. November 2006, Apollo Magazine
- ^ Asia Pacific Triennial artists
