Ai Weiwei: Under Construction

Ai Weiwei: Under Construction is an exhibition in two venues initiated by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in partnership with Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC). 

The SCAF exhibition comprises the major commission Through, 2007–08, together with the world premiere of Ai Weiwei’s video Fairytale, 2008, and his exquisite porcelain Prototype of The Wave, 2004.

Campbelltown Arts Centre has produced the first international survey of work from China’s most potent contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei, Curated by Dr Charles Merewether.  The survey presents a new commission, Marble Chair, alongside 45 other works, including sculpture, video and installation. It has been assembled from private and public collections in Europe, America and China, as well as personal loans from the artist and covers over 20 years Ai Weiwei’s practice

Ai Weiwei is both icon and cultural commentator – an artist, photographer, writer, book editor, curator and architect whose life trajectory has seen him move from family exile during the Cultural Revolution to working at the forefront of contemporary art in China. He is best known for his recent collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron as concept designer of the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

Through and Fairytale are seminal works in Ai Weiwei’s practice. Through is the towering, final work in a series of works referencing the accelerating theme of destruction and reinvention in Chinese history and giving new life to Qing Dynasty furniture, pillars and beams rescued from demolished houses and temples. While the beams and pillars inserted at violent angles through the table surfaces suggest the collision of public and private realms in twenty-first century China, the installation’s soaring height and echoes of temple architecture reflect the vital energy of an ancient culture whose greatest strength is adaptability and renewal. 

Fairytale distils on film Ai Weiwei’s heartfelt, highly complex socially interactive work that involved 1001 ordinary Chinese people travelling to Kassel in Germany to experience and become part of Documenta XII. Fairytale runs for almost 3 hours and shows participants within the context of their daily lives in China, during their time in Kassel and back at home, reflecting on the new ideas and possibilities afforded by their exotic, magical, all-expenses-paid adventure.

The film brings home the extraordinary physical and emotional energy invested by Ai Weiwei and his team in organising every aspect of Fairytale, from arranging participants’ passports and travel, to designing and producing their luggage and clothing to erecting dormitory accommodation, including a kitchen, in Kassel.

Prototype for The Wave is a small porcelain work paying ‘overwrought homage’ to the waves of Japanese master painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai. Witty and captivating, it is emblematic of Ai Weiwei’s practice in realising many of his conceptual works in conjunction with an ever-increasing team of highly skilled Chinese craftsman.

Ai Weiwei: Under Construction is accompanied by an extensive monographic catalogue written by Dr Charles Merewether and published by UNSW Press in association with Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and Campbelltown Arts Centre. The publication is available for $45 from SCAF, CAC and all good bookshops.

A bus will operate between Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and Campbelltown Arts Centre on the first Saturday of the Biennale of Sydney, 21 June 2008. The bus will leave from Goodhope Street at 12.30 pm and return at approximately 5 pm. Places are limited so please book early by contacting Jaime Wheatley on (02) 9331 1112.

1 May – 26 July 2008

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation  (SCAF)
16-20 Goodhope Street, Paddington NSW 2021 

www.sherman-scaf.org.au

+612 9331 1112   

Tuesday - Friday 10am-6pm
Saturday 11am-6pm 
Free 

2 May – 29 June 2008

Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC)
Cnr Camden & Appin Roads, Campbelltown NSW 2560  

www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au 

02  4645 4100

Daily 10am-4pm
Free 

 Through, 2007–08, Iron wood (Tieli wood), Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), tables, parts of beams and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), 400 x 800 x 1340 cm, installation view, Ai Weiwei’s studio, Beijing. Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing – Lucerne and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney

Marble Chair, 2008, marble, 125 x 52 x 50 cm. Commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing – Lucerne and Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney