Ai Weiwei

Press Release

Comunicato PDF
Press Release PDF

Galleria Continua / Beijing in cooperation with Tang Contemporary Art Center 

curated by Cui Cancan.

For the first time in his life, the famous Chinese artist designs and realizes a solo exhibition in his home country. The show represents a site specific work for the Continua gallery in Beijing and the adjoining Tang Contemporary Art Center. 

The Wang Jiaci monumental and ancient building was disassembled into more than 1500 pieces and meticulously re-built inside the two exhibitive spaces, crossing the wall between the two. The peculiarity of this traditional architecture lies in its structure consisting of columns and wooden beams, completely independent and detachable from the walls. This thousand-year-old traditional building technique is strictly related to the Chinese philosophy and mindset.

The choice to bring a predominant installation with such an imposing structure, cultural importance and aesthetic beauty inside the spaces, aims at setting conditions of “totality” where the environment, which is no longer physical but also temporal and social, becomes an essential aspect of the work. Thus, visitors and their behavior around the space which inevitably leads to a partial experience of the piece is central and it becomes the actual work of art.