Ai Weiwei exhibition at local museum

He is arguably the most famous and infamous artist of China: Ai Weiwei. The little man from big China has never been closer to Tilburg as museum de Pont recently opened an exhibition featuring Weiwei’s work created between 2003 and 2011. Weiwei’s fame is credited to his art, but he has earned his infamy by being a strong advocate for democracy and by addressing the civil rights situation in China. Due to his tendency to criticize the government on every social media outlet, the Chinese authorities have him on constant lockdown and obstruct his artistic endeavors by demolishing his studio or confining him to his residence or hometown.

Nevertheless Weiwei has been dedicated to his craft and has created a plethora of art. His art manifests itself in constructs with a symbolism which is critical of the Chinese society. For instance in his piece sunflower seeds, (on display at de Pont) Weiwei uses millions of handcrafted, porcelain sunflower seeds as a metaphor for the Chinese people. The interpretation by the museum reads as follows: the first leader of the communist party, Mao Zedong, made the sun his personal symbol. Weiwei depicts the Chinese people as sunflower seeds, looking up in awe to their leader. This is only one of many interpretations of this work of art. A different interpretation by the Dutch paper NRC sees sunflower seeds as a metaphor for mass-production. You decide.

Surprisingly, Chinese exchange students approached on campus have not heard from Ai Weiwei, despite his international reputation and impressive feats, like co-designing the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Upon further enquiry Regina Yi, a student from China finishing her traineeship via AIESEC in two weeks, responds that she did not know Ai Weiwei at all before he was mentioned. However, after an online review of Ai Weiwei’s life and work, Regina responds: “…I think at least he is a pioneer to attract the attention of the public and raise the issue of civil rights. (…) I think he is open and devoted to the progress of society.” Regarding his artwork she says that it “is simple in structure but rich in meaning.”

Much unlike his father, a celebrated poet, Ai Weiwei seems to be relatively unknown by Chinese students on campus. One would attribute this to censorship in China, but this doesn’t seem to be the case as Ai Weiwei’s articles and art are fully available via the Chinese search engine Baidu.

Unfortunately, Regina doesn’t have the time to visit de Pont for a real life viewing, but everyone else has all the time in the world as the exhibition doesn’t close until June 24th.