Being held under house arrest by his government since 2011 has not stopped Chinese artist Ai Weiwei from taking his politically-themed art to the world. The opening of his new exhibit, @Large, in San Francisco this Saturday, which Ai directed entirely from his Beijing studio, serves to further demonstrate the power of free expression and communication through art in the fight against oppression.
By The Numbers: Trace, one of the displays at Ai’s Alcatraz exhibit, uses 1.2 million Lego bricks, assembled by 90 volunteers from 2,300 pages of Ai’s instruction to form the likeness of 176 political prisoners. (Jan Stuermann, For-Site Foundation)
Alcatraz, America’s most famous former prison, has been open to the public since 1973 as a national recreational area, but Ai’s installation, on view until April, 2015, is the first of its type to grace the San Francisco landmark.
The art displays vary in media and content, but maintain the central theme of the perseverance of personal freedom against oppressing forces.
With Wind, a traditional Chinese paper dragon, uses a medium that serves as a symbol of power throughout centuries of Chinese culture. However, its colors represent not the power of authority, but rather of personal freedom. “Everybody has this power,” says Ai Weiwei in his memos accompanying the work. (Jan Stuermann, For-Site Foundation)
This is no surprise for Ai, who was hailed in 2011 as the world’s most powerful artist by the magazine ArtReview. The power of his work has led to many allegations of crimes against the artist, with many charges held as official state secrets against even Ai himself. Ai Weiwei has been banned from leaving China for the past three years, which is why he is unable to attend the premier of his San Francisco exhibit.
The government of China has officially stated that Ai cannot leave based on unspecified reasons pertaining to national security.
Though he is confined to Beijing, Ai Weiwei has been able to communicate with a large group of international volunteers to bring his art away from what he described as a Kafkaesque “nightmare city.”
Stay Tuned plays the music of arrested activist-artists from the prison’s cells. (Jan Stuermann, For-Site Foundation)
Ai, who has praised the power of a free and open internet in his book Weiweiisms, demonstrates his connections to the world of activist-artists outside of China. One cell in the installation Stay Tuned plays the music of Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk group imprisoned for protesting the policies of Vladimir Putin, who have recently launched an independent news service in Russia.
“The Internet is uncontrollable,” writes Ai on the subject of free communication. “And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that.”
Ai’s Refraction serves as a tribute to oppressed communities in Tibet, challenging the viewer to question Chinese power in the region. (Jan Stuermann, For-Site Foundation)
@Large will be open to the public from the 27th of september to the 26th of April, in 2015.
To reserve tickets for Alcatraz (the exhibition itself is free) see the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy website.