Retrospective exhibition and special CIRCA project by Ai Weiwei on view in Seoul

2 December 2021

On Saturday 11 December, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul, South Korea, will open a retrospective exhibition by Ai Weiwei, presenting films, installations and sculptures that introduce the artist's key areas of exploration such as surveillance, censorship, and solidarity with refugees.

'Ai Weiwei: Defend the Future' will feature a site-specific project dealing with current issues from 2021 that utilise the museum's architectural features. Among the films to be shown are Coronation (2020), made during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, and Omni (2019), which was made using VR technology.

Additionally, following the artist's involvement with the digital art and culture programme CIRCA, a new fifteen minute-long film by Ai will be screened in a special CIRCA presentation across the giant digital billboards in Seoul's COEX K-POP Square. The screening will take place at 20:21 KST on International Human Rights Day on10 December.

Two films, presented jointly by CIRCA with MMCA, discuss the freedom to read and write. Celebrating the centenary of the British human rights organization English Pen, the first film features quotes from authors and activists including Salman Rushdie, Helen Mort, Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Elif Shafak and Philippe Sands. The new film 'The Book Catches Fire By Itself', produced for CIRCA last month, expands on the themes of human rights and freedom of the press, often seen in Ai Weiwei's world of work.

Find further information via MMCA.