Ai Weiwei (Chinese: 艾未未), born in 1957 in Beijing, is a leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator.
Life and work
Born in Beijing, his father was the famous 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.In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with famous Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars," and the group subsequently disbanded in 1983.
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 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).
In 2000 he co-curated the exhibition "Fuck Off" with curator Feng Boyi in Shanghai, China.
In 2006 he designed a private residence in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and the house is designed around a significant contemporary Chinese art collection.
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 has 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. He has also accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Steven Spielberg and Zhang Yimou, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists.
Exhibitions
His artwork has been exhibited extensively in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and the United States. His work was included in the 48th Venice Biennale 1999, Italy; the First Guangzhou Triennial 2002, China; "Zones of Contact: 2006 Biennale of Sydney"; and Documenta 12.References
External links
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Last updated on Sunday July 06, 2008 at 13:23:01 PDT (GMT -0700)
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