Ai Weiwei, a global artist, researcher, and thinker, explores diverse subjects, from the 2008 Chinese earthquake to refugee crises. His art combines craftsmanship and conceptual creativity, addressing economic, political, and social forces. Through installations, sculptures, films, and photographs, he highlights universal symbols and societal issues. Ai Weiwei is an influential cultural figure and advocate for free expression worldwide.
Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei now resides in Portugal. His major solo exhibitions span across the globe, from Vienna to London. He has collaborated on architectural projects like the 2012 Serpentine Pavilion and the Beijing Olympic Stadium in 2008.
His numerous awards include the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards’ lifetime achievement award in 2008 and the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent in 2012. He was named Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2011.
Ai Weiwei’s work resonates globally, transcending cultural and political boundaries. As a leading cultural figure, he continues to inspire through his thought-provoking art and unwavering commitment to human rights.
18 February 2022 • Tabish Khan
Ai Weiwei is one of the most important contemporary artists operating today so it’s quite the coup for Kettle’s Yard to be hosting an exhibition of his work — though of course, it helps that Ai now lives in Cambridge so is close by.
6 January 2022 • Mark Westall
Kettle’s Yard is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition by internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957, Beijing)… Read More
31 October 2021 • Mark Westall
CIRCA have launched their first fine #CIRCAECONOMY print, created by Ai Weiwei. The special edition dropped LIVE! on Piccadilly Circus… Read More
1 September 2021 • Mark Westall
Coinciding with the installation’s final week, IWM has announced the release of a limited run of Ai Weiwei designed & hand-signed posters.
16 May 2021 • Tabish Khan
Rush out to the shows you’ve missed while museums have been closed.
6 May 2021 • Mark Westall
There are 185 posts and counting on FAD magazine that mention Ai Weiwei. The first post was in 2010 in… Read More
26 April 2021 • Mark Westall
Ai Weiwei’s new memoir 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows is coming out on 2nd November 2021 with a cover designed by the… Read More
13 November 2020 • Mark Westall
Papercutting is a traditional Chinese art going back 2,000 years. The coloured, intricately cut papers are used as a story-telling medium in festivities, for prayers, and as everyday decoration. The bags and scarves take their motifs from a papercut created by Ai Weiwei as part of his Papercut Portfolio published by TASCHEN in 2019.
12 November 2020 • Mark Westall
Ice and Fire is viewable online through an exhibition website designed by Wade Guyton, Jacqueline Humphries, Jon Lucas, and Eric Wrenn: 512w19.thekitchen.org.
9 November 2020 • Mark Westall
5 great books to get for Lockdown II and Christmas featuring Basquiat, Helmut Newton, Star Wars, Ai Weiwei and Wolfgang Tillmans
31 October 2020 • Mark Westall
Circa 20:20, a new work by Ai Weiwei, will break a new record on Saturday 31 October at 20:20 for the longest ever single piece of content to be shown on Piccadilly Lights in Piccadilly Circus, Europe’s largest screen.
8 October 2020 • Mark Westall
Lisson Gallery has launched a new space on Cork Street with an exhibition titled Horizon, the gallery will be at the heart of London’s Frieze activity.
29 September 2020 • Mark Westall
CIRCA, a new and independently curated platform presenting digital art on the iconic Piccadilly Circus screen, launches 1st October with a new commission by celebrated artist Ai Weiwei.
29 September 2020 • Mark Westall
Lisson Gallery is to open a new space on Cork Street for six months. Launching during Frieze Week 2020
30 May 2020 • Mark Westall
Ai Weiwei has launched a new initiative in collaboration with eBay, the artist and activist is selling limited-edition protective masks created in his studio in Berlin
17 April 2020 • Mark Westall
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has created a work of art using materials that can be found in any DIY store. The resulting piece is a typical Ai Weiwei: simple, direct and unpretentious.
18 March 2020 • Mark Westall
Lisson Gallery are supplementing Art Basel virtual Rooms by inviting key Asian galleries to join together in a virtual walk-through, to help make the site interactive and appealing to audiences both regionally and globally.
16 July 2019 • Mark Westall
The Tsai residence, an upstate New York property designed by Ai Weiwei and HHF architects is currently on the market for $5.25 million.
24 June 2019 • Mark Westall
In a unique collaboration, a wide-ranging group of arts organisations and human rights charities commissioned Ai Weiwei to design a new flag in response to the real and present dangers of a world changing at break-neck speed and a community that has forgotten why human rights are so important
11 March 2019 • Mark Westall
Weiwei has offered to take 30 tonnes of buttons from a factory in Croydon after seeing a message on Twitter.
10 December 2018 • Mark Westall
o mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, artist Ai Weiwei has created a flag to celebrate universal human rights.
14 September 2018 • Mark Westall
Cao / Humanity is a new exhibition by the acclaimed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, which will open at UTA Artist Space on October 4th.
8 July 2018 • Mark Westall
Next week UTA Artist Space open their new Beverly Hills home designed by Ai Weiwei, and open their first exhibition in the space: ONE SHOT.
22 May 2018 • Mark Westall
Ai Weiwei is scheduled to do to three shows in Los Angeles in September/October firstly he is taking over Jeffrey Deitch’s new Hollywood gallery for its inaugural show, opening Sept 29th then he has a show at the Marciano Art Foundation, opening Sept 28th and finally starting Oct 4th he will be showing a marble sculpture at the new UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills.
