Associação Cultural Videobrasil

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is featured in shows in two different continents. Interlacing, conceived by Switzerland’s Fotomuseum Winterthur and also hosted by Paris’ Jeu de Paume, arrives at São Paulo’s MIS. This is his first show in the American continent. In the meantime, Ai Weiwei. Resistencia y Tradición opened on January 31 at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, in Spain.

Interlacing will open on February 7 at 12:00 pm at the Museum of Image and Sound, in São Paulo, featuring videos and photographs, as well as the first-ever Portuguese language catalogue dedicated to the artist. Weiwei’s work takes a critical view of China’s political-social scenario – which, coupled with his personal stance, has earned him political reproach and imprisonment (he is currently under house arrest).

The show was devised in collaboration with the artist himself and his assistant, Lucas Lai, and curated by Urs Stahel, comprising eleven different sections with themes such as: Provisional Landscapes, Fairytale Portraits, Earthquake, and segments based on techniques or motifs. Parallel to the show, the MIS will release the documentary Ai Weiwei - Never Sorry.

In turn, the show at Centro Andaluz de Arte Contempóraneo, in Seville, gives a comprehensive overview of his output in different formats and languages, such as installations, ceramic work, videos and photography.

In order to gain a deep insight into Weiwei’s output, one must ponder his current status as a political prisoner in China; the shifting local economy that is increasingly a part of the Western capitalist world, though strictly governed by the Communist Party; and the Western influence that is beginning to clash with traditional Chinese culture. These are situations that the artist addresses in his works, be it through protest or a renewed grasp on the relationship between art and politics.

To learn more about Weiwei in Brazil go to the MIS-SP website. For his Seville show, click here.

Source: artecontexto