Ai Weiwei 'Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei' at Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA

21 February 2025

From 12 March, Seattle Art Museum presents 'Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei' an exhibition by Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei is celebrated as a disruptor of artistic canons and a champion of free expression. In his work—ranging across performance, photography, sculpture, video, and installation—he deploys humour and provocation, calling upon his viewers to examine history, society, and culture. Organized by SAM, 'Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei', highlights the artistic strategies of his 40-year career for questioning forms of power, and marks the artist’s first US retrospective in over a decade.

Ai Weiwei moves between modes of production and investigation, subject to the direction and outcome of his research, whether into the Chinese earthquake of 2008 (for works such as Straight, 2008-12 and Remembering, 2009) or the worldwide plight of refugees and forced migrants (for Law of the Journey and his feature-length documentary, Human Flow, both 2017). From early iconoclastic positions in regards to authority and history, which included Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn and a series of middle-finger salutes to sites of power, Study of Perspective (both 1995), Ai’s production expanded to encompass architecture, public art and performance. Beyond concerns of form or protest, Ai now measures our existence in relation to economic, political, natural and social forces, uniting craftsmanship with conceptual creativity.

Find out more via Seattle Art Museum.

Image: Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 2015, LEGO bricks, 3 parts, each: 192 x 230 x 3 cm, 3 parts, each: 75 5/8 x 90 1/2 x 1 1/8 in, © Ai Weiwei Studio, Courtesy Lisson Gallery