PRESENTATION: Ai Weiwei-In Search of Humanity, Part II

As his personal circumstances move in constant flux, Ai Weiwei remains a cultural magnet. Renowned for his political activism and social media activity almost as much as for his social interventions, contemporary approach to the readymade, and knowledge of Chinese traditional crafts, Ai’s fame extends throughout and beyond the art world (Part I).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Albertina Museum Archive

Ai Weiwei;s most comprehensive retrospective to date, “In Search of Humanity” deals in depth with the aspects of humanity and artistic commentary in the work of Ai Weiwei. His earliest works were already characterized by an examination of his native China, where he experienced the effects of the Cultural Revolution as a child through the exile of his father, the great poet Ai Qing. As a young man in New York’s East Village in the 1980s, he witnessed and documented the protest movements there. Back in Beijing, it was the immediate aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre to which he responded artistically. His outstretched middle finger, which he held up to well-known buildings as representative objects of power, thus denouncing injustices, ultimately became his trademark. Time and again, the artist addresses power structures and the mechanisms of exercising power, be it the destruction of cultural heritage as an expression of one’s own superiority or the exercise of manipulation, censorship, and surveillance by the state. He unrelentingly takes a closer look wherever he sees freedom of expression and human rights in danger—from the Chinese government’s methods of intimidation and the threats to journalists and political activists to the protests in Hong Kong, the massive restrictions in Wuhan during the outbreak of the corona pandemic, and even his own detainment in 2011. Among the works pf the exhibition are:

A Metal Door with Bullet Holes: Since 2015, Ai Weiwei has repeatedly addressed the themes of war, flight, and migration in his works. He creates readymades from found objects, such as this huge metal gate with bullet holes, which he discovered while filming in Syria near the Turkish border, and which, as one object among many, bears witness to the violence that has recently been so present in this area. Study of Perspective: At Tiananmen Square that Ai photographed his extended middle finger for the first time in 1995, directing his protest against those currently in power and thereby taking a stand even more decidedly. Ai later expanded his protest, no longer limiting it to China. Like a tourist, he set his sights on world-famous buildings and works of art, extending his arm into the center of the image with his middle finger raised. His gesture is always directed at symbols and signifiers of political or cultural power, such as the White House in Washington, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the skyline of Hong Kong, or the Reichstag in Berlin. He has never directed this gest at people, as the artist sees in each and every individual the potential to change things for the better. Referring to the title “Study of Perspective”, Ai employs the art term commonly used for spatial preliminary drawings, thus pointing out that this is a work of art. And instead of estimating the distance with his thumb, as would be the usual thing, he uses his middle finger. On the other hand, the title references his personal point of view and the perspective—or prospect—of changing the future with his action. We see the scenes from the artist’s perspective. Strictly speaking, it could also be our arm that protrudes into the picture. In this way, we are encouraged to question our own position vis-à-vis authorities and to stand up for the rights of autonomy and freedom of expression. Bicycles: Ai Weiwei created his first bicycle object in 2003. As he had done in his early work, he once again harked back to Marcel Duchamp and his readymades, specifically to “Bicycle Wheel” (1913), for which Duchamp had mounted a front wheel including the fork to a stool upside down. The bicycle has a specific meaning in China, a country that has long been considered a nation of bicycles. As a child, Ai himself experienced how important it was to own a bicycle to be able to move from A to B. As recently as in the late 1980s, there were hardly any motorized private vehicles in China, and bicycles dominated urban traffic. This changed over the decades, as cities grew and distances could no longer be covered by bicycle. More and more people were able to afford a car and switched modes of transportation, which contributed to the heavy smog pollution in Chinese metropolises. Ai combines all these aspects in his bicycle works. He generally uses a particular model from the Shanghai-based brand Forever. Ai assembles the bicycles in such a way that they are no longer functional: without handlebars, pedals, and chains, and at times even without a saddle.

Tea Brick: Pu’er or pu-erh is a fermented tea produced in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. In a process known since the tenth century, the tea leaves are wilted, steamed, and then pressed into bricks, balls, or patties. This way they can be preserved, easily shipped, and thus exported while they continue to ripen for years or even decades. The artist has adopted the familiar cube shape and created a work of art that echoes the minimalist works of Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, and Robert Morris. At the same time, Ai alludes to the century-old traditions of his homeland, to China as an exporting country, and to its outstanding role as a global economic power. Souvenir from Beijing: In the course of the modernization of cities, many hutongs, traditionally built Chinese neighborhoods, were demolished to make way for new buildings. These bricks come from such a torn-down hutong. They have been placed in small boxes, which for their part are made of the wood from temples dating back to the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). In a way, Ai Weiwei thus pays his last respects to these remains, as one would honor the dead in their coffins. Through the artist’s transformation, the ancient objects undergo reevaluation and redefinition—a process of renewal. Earthquake in Sichuan: In May 12, 2008, a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck southwestern China. Hardest hit was the province of Sichuan, where entire villages disappeared from the face of the earth and towns were completely destroyed. Some 90,000 people died, more than five million buildings were damaged within minutes, nearly six million people were left homeless, and thousands of children were buried under the rubble of their schools. When Ai Weiwei learned of the disaster, he drove to the region to understand the extent of the tragedy. He researched and conducted interviews on site. It became clear that gross negligence during construction and corruption had led to serious defects that had contributed to the collapse of the school buildings. The matter became a highly controversial political issue just a few weeks before the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which were being promoted with a great deal of propaganda. In his attempt to obtain a list of all the fatalities, Ai encountered massive resistance and thus launched a survey among the local residents on his own initiative. Over the next two years, he and a number of volunteers traveled to 74 communities, gathered information, spoke with bereaved parents, and investigated the condition of 153 schools. In the process, the helpers were frequently intimidated by the police and, in some cases, arrested. Eventually, they identified the name, age, school, and class of the 5,197 pupils who had lost their lives. Incoming data was continuously published on the artist’s blog. The Chinese authorities, having long eyed Ai’s critical blog with suspicion, censored it at first and then blocked it completely. Ai has been deleted from the Chinese Internet as a dissident.

Info: Curators: Dieter Buchhart and Elsy Lahner, Albertina Modern, Karlsplatz 5, Vienna, Austria, Duration: 16/3-4/9/2022, Days & Hours: Mon-Tue, Thu & Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, Wed, Fri 10:00-21:00, www.albertina.at/en/