Ai Weiwei “According to What?”
Until November 8
Mori Art Museum
Tokyo, Japan
Up in Japan during China’s National Day holiday, I got the chance to check out “According to What?”, the Ai Weiwei exhibition at the Mori Museum in Tokyo. It’s an impressive show, presenting the main career milestones of the man the Mori has labeled “the most evocative creator in contemporary China.” But though it’s being billed as the largest-ever retrospective of Ai’s work, the show ends up feeling a bit minimal, and is occasionally dwarfed by the scale of the Mori itself.
Upon entering, I didn’t even realize at first that the chandelier hanging in the Mori’s lobby was Ai’s “Chandelier” – in the past it’s been mostly presented in relatively small spaces, overwhelming the viewer, whereas it seems here adrift in the Mori’s huge atrium. Most of the other pieces fare better, including the fantastic “Ton of Tea” (1 cubic square meter of compressed Pu’er tea) and the display of painted neolithic pots (looking finally at home in the context of such a “museum”-y museum. A snake-like chain of children’s backpacks on the ceiling is a haunting memorial to the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake. It’s also an inevitable reminder of Ai’s activism on this issue and the recent brain surgery he underwent in Germany as a result of a beating by Chengdu police.
The massive “Fairytale” project, in which Ai brought 1001 Chinese people to Documenta 2007, is represented only by the antique Chinese chairs spaced around the gallery, and video documentation – unfortunately minimizing the epic nature of this piece. Also the exhibition plays down the passage of time, and Ai’s own evolution. The photographs of his early years in New York City could have occupied a larger space – as it is, they’re only displayed on one small video screen in a room full of publications and other materials.
All in all, it’s a handsomely-staged collection of Ai’s greatest hits, and gives a clear sense of his monumental importance to contemporary art, within China and without.
Looking ahead, a new exhibition by Ai will open at Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany on October 12. Titled “So Sorry,” the show references the shallow apologies made by governments and corporations for wrongdoing, and features two new installations. He’s even doing a special blog for the exhibition here.
From the Press release:
“‘So Sorry’, the title of Ai Weiwei’s exhibition, refers to the thousands of apologies expressed recently by governments, industries and financial corporations worldwide, in an effort to make up for tragedies and wrong doings – though often without shouldering the consequences or the desire to acknowledge let alone repair. Saying sorry – or not saying it – is in the headlines everywhere and thus also in China. It seems, however, that the expression ’sorry’ has taken on the meaning of ‘fuck off’. Since to apologise also means that it is too late to make amends. Do we really want to buy into ’so sorry’? And should we not find new ways to say sorry and to express our regrets? Do we need a different culture of apologising?”
Related post:
Ai Weiwei’s new exhibition at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Elsewhere:
Ai Weiwei is also on the cover of the current issue of Mono Kultur, Berlin’s hip magazine.
Phil Tinari’s coverage of the “According to What?” August opening for Artforum’s “Scene & Herd”
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (Read more)
Ai Weiwei at Mori Museum, Tokyo (and Beyond)
Ai Weiwei “According to What?”
Until November 8
Mori Art Museum
Tokyo, Japan
Up in Japan during China’s National Day holiday, I got the chance to check out “According to What?”, the Ai Weiwei exhibition at the Mori Museum in Tokyo. It’s an impressive show, presenting the main career milestones of the man the Mori has labeled “the most evocative creator in contemporary China.” But though it’s being billed as the largest-ever retrospective of Ai’s work, the show ends up feeling a bit minimal, and is occasionally dwarfed by the scale of the Mori itself.
Upon entering, I didn’t even realize at first that the chandelier hanging in the Mori’s lobby was Ai’s “Chandelier” – in the past it’s been mostly presented in relatively small spaces, overwhelming the viewer, whereas it seems here adrift in the Mori’s huge atrium. Most of the other pieces fare better, including the fantastic “Ton of Tea” (1 cubic square meter of compressed Pu’er tea) and the display of painted neolithic pots (looking finally at home in the context of such a “museum”-y museum. A snake-like chain of children’s backpacks on the ceiling is a haunting memorial to the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake. It’s also an inevitable reminder of Ai’s activism on this issue and the recent brain surgery he underwent in Germany as a result of a beating by Chengdu police.
The massive “Fairytale” project, in which Ai brought 1001 Chinese people to Documenta 2007, is represented only by the antique Chinese chairs spaced around the gallery, and video documentation – unfortunately minimizing the epic nature of this piece. Also the exhibition plays down the passage of time, and Ai’s own evolution. The photographs of his early years in New York City could have occupied a larger space – as it is, they’re only displayed on one small video screen in a room full of publications and other materials.
All in all, it’s a handsomely-staged collection of Ai’s greatest hits, and gives a clear sense of his monumental importance to contemporary art, within China and without.
Looking ahead, a new exhibition by Ai will open at Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany on October 12. Titled “So Sorry,” the show references the shallow apologies made by governments and corporations for wrongdoing, and features two new installations. He’s even doing a special blog for the exhibition here.
From the Press release:
“‘So Sorry’, the title of Ai Weiwei’s exhibition, refers to the thousands of apologies expressed recently by governments, industries and financial corporations worldwide, in an effort to make up for tragedies and wrong doings – though often without shouldering the consequences or the desire to acknowledge let alone repair. Saying sorry – or not saying it – is in the headlines everywhere and thus also in China. It seems, however, that the expression ’sorry’ has taken on the meaning of ‘fuck off’. Since to apologise also means that it is too late to make amends. Do we really want to buy into ’so sorry’? And should we not find new ways to say sorry and to express our regrets? Do we need a different culture of apologising?”
Related post:
Ai Weiwei’s new exhibition at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Elsewhere:
Ai Weiwei is also on the cover of the current issue of Mono Kultur, Berlin’s hip magazine.
Phil Tinari’s coverage of the “According to What?” August opening for Artforum’s “Scene & Herd”