“I always think art is a tool to set up new questions, to create a basic structure which can be open to possibilities” ~ Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism.
In October 2010, ‘Sunflower Seeds’ was installed at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London. The work consists of one hundred million porcelain ‘seeds’, each individually hand-painted in the town of Jingdezhen by 1,600 Chinese artisans, and scattered over a large area of the exhibition hall.
Ai Weiwei was keen for visitors to walk across and roll in the work to experience and contemplate the essence of his comment on mass consumption, Chinese industry, famine and collective work (however, Tate Modern eventually stopped people from walking on the exhibit owing to health liability concerns over the porcelain dust).
Featured Photo Credit: (edited), ‘Sunflower Seeds’ by Ai Weiwei, Tate Modern Turbine Hall, by Loz Pycock,. CC BY-SA 2.0
