Artists › Ai Wei Wei › Biography - Exhibitions
Biography of Ai Wei Wei
Ai Weiwei, (born 1957, Beijing) is a leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator and activist. Ai is known for the design of the Beijing National Stadium, more commonly known as the "Bird's Nest", the main stadium of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Beginning with the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Ai has emerged as one of China's most influential bloggers and social activists; he is known for his tongue-in-cheek and sometimes vulgar social commentary, and has had frequent run-ins with Chinese authorities. He was particularly focused at exposing an alleged corruption scandal in the construction of Sichuan schools that collapsed during the earthquake.
Born in Beijing, his father was Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and sent off to a labor camp in Xinjiang with his wife, Gao Ying. Ai Weiwei also spent five years there. Ai Weiwei is married to artist Lu Qing. Ai Weiwei is represented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne.
Education
In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars", together with Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Zhong Acheng and Qu Leilei. In China the group subsequently disbanded in 1983. Yet Ai Weiwei participated in regular Stars group shows, The Stars: Ten Years, 1989 (Hanart Gallery, Hong-Hong and Taipei), and a retrospective exhibition in Beijing in 2007: Origin Point (Today Art Museum, Beijing).
Influences
From 1981 to 1993, 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 1987 he took part in the founding of The Chinese United Overseas Artists Association, along with Li Shuang, Qu Leilei, Zhang Hongtu.
In 1993, Ai returned to China because his father became 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).
In 2000, he co-curated the notorious art exhibition "Fuck Off" with curator Feng Boyi in Shanghai, China. In 2000, Ai Weiwei moved to Caochangdi where he built a compound of houses and opened his studio REAL/FAKE. In 2006, Ai Weiwei and HHF Architects designed a private residence in Columbia County, New York. According to the New York Times, the house was completed in 2008 and is "extraordinarily refined".
Ai 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." Although ignored by the Chinese media, he has voiced his anti-Olympics views. He later 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.
In August 2007 he also accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Steven Spielberg and Zhang Yimou, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists. Ai said "It's disgusting. I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment." While being asked why he participated in the designing of the Bird's Nest, Ai replied "I did it because I love design."
Exhibitions of Ai Wei Wei
2010
- Acconci Studio + Ai Weiwei, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong, China
- AAA Talk: Vito Acconci + Ai Weiwei: Artist in Conversation, Agnes b. Cinema, Wanchai, Hong Kong
- AI Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, USA (solo)
- Radical conceptual. Positionen aus der Sammlung des MMK, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Ai Weiwei. Barely something, Museum DKM, Galerie DKM, Duisburg, Germany, March 19 - September 20, 2010
2009
- Beg Borrow and Steal, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
- Is there going to be a title?, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (solo)
- Ai Weiwei: According to What?, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
- Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China (solo)
- Art Summer Hellerau, Festspielhaus Hellerau/Dresden, Germany
- The China Project. Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
- So Sorry, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (solo)
- Photography Art Center, Beijing, China (solo)
- Ai Weiwei. Friedman Benda, New York, NY (solo)
- Ai Weiwei: Four Movements, Phillips de Pury & Company, London, UK (solo)
- The Big World. Recent Art from China, Hall and Yates Gallery, Chicago, USA
- Garbage, group exhibition with Anatoly Shuravlev and Ai Weiwei, AFTERGALLERY, projectroom, Moscow, Russia
2008
- OUT THERE: Architecture Beyond Building, Biennale Architecture, 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice, Italy
- Half-Life of a Dream, Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
- Super Fengshui: UCCA Site Commissions, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
- Beijing Map Games. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Birmingham, England
- abc art berlin contemporary, Postbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
- Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, USA
- Map Games: Dynamics of Change, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
- Reconstruction # 3. The Artists Playground, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, UK
- China. The City exp(l)osed, Institut Francais d'Architecture & du Patrimoine, Paris, France
- Under Construction, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Cambelltown Arts Center, Sydney, Australia (solo)
- Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
- Go China! Ai Weiwei, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands (solo)
- Delirious Beijing, PKM Gallery, Beijing, China
- Community of Tastes - The Inaugural Exhibition Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
- RED Aside: Chinese Contemporary Art of the Sigg Collection, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain
- The Real Thing. Contemporary Art from China, Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2007
- EI - Entity Identity - Beijing Series. Western Concepts - Chinese Drafts, Stedelijk Museum s' Hertogenbosch, MB 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
- Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection, CIFO - Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, USA
- Inspired by China - Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions, Museum of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, USA
- Branded and on Display, Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Wichita, USA
- China Now, Cobra Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Get It Louder, SOHO Shangdu, Beijing, China
- Something New Pussycat, Klara Wallner Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- Energies - Synergy, Foundation DE 11 LIJNEN, Oudenburg, Belgium
- Chinese Video: Chord Chances in the Megalopolis, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
- Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
- documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
- Contemporary Art Exhibitions of Kogo Art Space, Kogo Art Space, Hangzhou, China
- Metamorphosis: The Generation of Transformation in Chinese Contemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
- Thermocline of Art. New Asian Waves, ZKM - Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
- Art from China - Collection Uli Sigg, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
- China Welcomes you... Desires, Struggles, New Identities, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
- The Year of the Golden Pig - Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork University College, Cork, Ireland
- Money, Beijing Today Gallery, Beijing, China
- Forged Realities, UniversalStudios, Beijing, China
- The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
- Project 'We are the future', 2nd Moskow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Art Centre Winzavod, Moskow, Russia
- Branded and on Display, Kannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, USA
- A Continuous Dialogue, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
- Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland (solo)
- Traveling Landscapes, AedesLand, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2006
- Fragments, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing, China (solo)
- Antique Modernity - Breaking Traditions, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA
- Beaufort Outside, Museum of Modern Art, Oostende, Belgium
- China zwischen Vergangenheit und Zukunft / Between Past and Future - New Photography and Video from China, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
- Regeneration. Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA
- China Power Station I, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
- Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA
- Herzog & de Meuron. No 250. Eine Ausstellung, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
- Busan Biennial 2006, Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan, Korea
- Misleading Trails, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg; Schick Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs; Boyden Gallery, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, USA
- Cityscapes 'Beijing Welcomes You'. Ein Stadtmodell von Lu Hao sowie Fotografien von Ai Weiwei, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- A Continuous Dialogue, Galleria Continua, Beijing, China
- Inspired by China - Contemporary Furnituremakers Expolre Chinese Traditions, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA
- China Contemporary. Architecture, Art and Visual Culture, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Black and Blue, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA
- Art in Motion - Chinese Contemporary Art meets BMW Art Cars, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- This Is Not For You - Sculptural Discourses, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
- Detours. Tactical Approaches to Urbanization in China, Eric Arthur Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- CHINA NOW. Faszination einer Weltveranderung, Sammlung Essl, Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg / Vienna, Austria
- Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
- MoCA Envisage / Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia
- Zones of Contact, 15th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Territorial. Ai Weiwei und Serge Spitzer, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Altered, Stitched and Gathered, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA
2005
- The 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- Misleading Trails, Fine Arts Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville; Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem; University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton; Altgeld Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA
- Regeneration. Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, USA
- Convergence at E116'/N40', Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing, China
- Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
- A Strange Heaven - Contemporary Chinese Photography, Tennis Palace Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
- Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Kunstmuseum Bern, Berne, Switzerland
- 1st Monpellier Biennial of Chinese Contemporary Art, Montpellier, France
- Cina. Prospettive d'Arte Contemporanea / China: As Seen by Contemporary Chinese Artists, Provincia di Milano, Spazio Oberdan, Milan, Italy
- Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
- Herzog & de Meuron. An Exhibition, Tate Modern, London, UK
- Regeneration. Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, University Art Gallery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, USA
- No 250. An Exhibition. Beauty and Waste in the Architecture of Herzog & de Meuron, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2004
- Silknet - Emerging Chinese Artists, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
- Persona3, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China
- Le Printemps de Chine, CRAC ALSAC, Altkirch, France
- Regeneration, Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, David Winton Bell Gallery, List Art Center Brown University, Providence, USA
- Regeneration. Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, John Paul Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
- On the Edge - Contemporary Chinese Photography & Video, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA
- Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
- Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (solo)
- Caermerklooster - Provinciaal Centrum voor Kunst en Cultur, Gent, Belgium (solo)
- Chinese Object: Dreams & Obsessions, Salvatore Ferragamo Gallery, New York, USA
- Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Museum of Contemporary Art Printemps Chicago and The David and Alfred
- Smart Museum of Art, Chicago; ICP International Center of Photography, New York, USA
- Modern Style in East Asia, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China
- Herzog & de Meuron. No 250. Eine Ausstellung, Schaulager, Basel, Switzerland
2003
- Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland (solo)
- New Zone - Chinese Art, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
- A Strange Heaven - Contemporary Chinese Photography, Galerie Rudolfinum, Praha, Czech Republic
- Junction. Chinese Contemporary Architecture of Art, Lianyang Architecture Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Cement - Marginal Space in Contemporary Art, Chamber Fine Arts, New York, USA
2002
- Art from a Changing World, Ludwig Forum for International Art, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Hoevikodden, Norway
- 1st Guangzhou Triennale 2002, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- China - Tradition und Moderne, Museum Ludwig Galerie Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
2001
- TAKE PART II, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
- TU MU. Young Chinese Architecture, Aedes Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- TAKE PART I, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
2000
- Fuck off, EastLink Gallery, Shanghai, China
- Portraits, Figures, Couples and Groups, BizArt, Shanghai, China
- Our Chinese Friends, ACC Galerie and Galerie der Bauhaus-Universitat (in collaboration with Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne), Weimar, Germany
1999
- "Innovations Part I", CAAW, Beijing, China
- Exposition China 1999, San Francisco Limn Gallery, USA
- Innovations Part I, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China
- d'Apertutto, La Biennale di Venezia, 48. Esposizione Internationale d'Arte, Venice, Italy
- Modern China Art Foundation Collection, Caermersklooster - Provinciaal Centrum voor Kunst en Cultuur, Gent, Belgium
- Concepts, Colors and Passions, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China
1998
- Double Kitsch: Painters from China, Max Protetch, New York, USA
1997
- A Point of Contact, Korean, Chinese, Japanese Contemporary Art, Daegu Art & Culture Hall, Taegu, Korea
1996
- Begegnung mit China, Ludwig Forum fur Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
1995
- Configura 2 - Dialog der Kulturen, Angermuseum, Galerie am Fischmarkt, Erfurt, Germany
- Change-Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Goteborg Museum, Goteborg, Sweden
1993
- Chinese Contemporary Art - The Stars 15 Years, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1989
- The Star: Ten Years, Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong
1989
- The Stars: Ten Years, Hanart Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
1988
- Old Shoes - Safe Sex, Art Waves Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1987
- The Star at Harvard: Chinese Dissident Art, Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
1986
- China's New Expression, Municipal Gallery, New York, USA
- Avant-Garde Chinese Art, Albany University Art Museum, New York, USA
1982
- Asian Foundation, San Francisco, USA (solo)
1980
- The second 'Star Exhibition', National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1979
- The first 'Star Exhibition', outside the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Literature of Ai Wei Wei
2007
- China Art Book. Uta Grosenick / Caspar Schubbe (Ed.), 680 pages, approx. 850 images, trilingual: Engl./Ger./Chin., Dumont Buchverlag, Cologne 2007. www.chinaartbook.de
- Jocks, H-N. (2007). Ai Weiwei. Das Marchen von 1001 Chinesen. Kunstforum International, August-September, Bd. 187, pp. 428-443.
- Tinari, P. (2007). A Kind of True Living. Artforum International, Summer 2007. pp. 453-459 Hopfener, B. (2007). Kunst aus China auf der Art Basel. Steigende Nachfrage. Available: http://www.artnet.de/magazine/news/hopfener/hopfener06-14-07.asp.
- Frilanz, J. (2007). I Don't Love Art. www.artnet.de, 08.06.07
- Neidhart, C. (2007). Der Chinesentransporter. Weltwoche, 22.07. pp. 74-76
- Tobler, K. (2007). Manche hatten nicht mal einen Namen. SonntagsZeitung, 27.Mai 2007, p. 54
- Merewether, C. (2007). Ai Weiwei. The Freedom of Irreverence. Art Asia Pacific, 53. pp. 108-111.
- Smith, K. (2007). Ai Weiwei. In: Tate Liverpool, The Real Thing. Contemporary Art from China. Liverpool: Tate Liverpool. pp. 30-42.
- Mingels, G. (2007). Ein Nest fur das neue China. Das Magazin, 15. pp 24-37.
- Yao, P. J. (2007). Ai Weiwei. Contemporary Art & Investment, April 2007, pp 22-23.
