AI WEIWEI  艾未未

Ai Weiwei  

艾未未

Ai Weiwei   艾未未 and Qi Zhuo   齐倬 

China

1957  Ai Weiwei  艾未未  was born in Beijing, on August 28th.

Accused of " rightism  ", his father, the poet Ai Qing ( 1910-1996 ) with all the family ( Gao Ying and their children )

were exiled to a labor camp in Dahuang, Heilongjiang province, in northeast China.

1959  They are assigned to another camp in Shihezi, Xinjiang province.

1976 They were allowed to come back to Beijing.

1978  Passionate about art, he joined the Beijing Film Academy.

He studied with Chen Kaigeand Zhang Yimou

1979  He was one of the founders with Huang Rui, Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Yan Li, Qu Leilei, Mao Lizi,
Bo Yun, Zhong Acheng, Yang Yiping, and Li Shuang, of the first vanguard artistic movement in China :
The Xingxing Group, otherwise known as the Stars.

The United States

1981  He moved to the U.S.A. He studied at the Parsons School of Design with Sean Scully.
He performed, created conceptual art by altering readymade objects and he sculpted.
He met the poet Allen Ginsberg and he was particularly interested in the work of Jasper Johns,
Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp.

1987  He participated in the founding of the Chinese United Overseas Artists Association with Li Shuang,
Qu Leilei, Zhang Hongtu and played an important role in the collective experimental art of the East Village.

China

1993  He retuned to China to see his sick father.
He wrote and published three books dedicated to experimental artists :
Black Cover Book 1994 -  White Cover Book 1995 - Gray Cover Book 1997.

1997   He founded the gallery CAAW ( China Art archives & Warehouse )

1998  He created his studio in Caochangdi.

1999  His work was included in the 48th Venice Biennial

2000  He organized with Feng Boyi, in an industrial wasteland, Fuck off , a Chinese Contemporary art exhibition, along with the Shanghai Biennial

2002  He took part in the first Guangzhou Trienniale.

2003  He founded  the architecture studi FAKE Design.

2004  First exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern, led by Bernard Fibicher.

2006  His work was included in the Sydney Biennial and in the Busan Bienniale in Korea.

2007  His project Fairytale at the Documenta 12 in Kassel, required 1001 Chinese people.

2008  He collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron, as the artistic consultant for design on the Beijing
National Stadium ( The Bird's Nest ), for the Summer Olympics.
He was invited by the Shanghai authorities to build an art studio on the outskirts of the city.

2009  After the Sichuan Earthquake, he investigated government corruption and published on the web,
articles documenting the names of students killed. His blog was shut down.
For his exhibition So Sorry at Haus der Kunst's he created the installation Remembering on Hausder Kunst's,
with the 9000 missing children's backpacks.

2010  In January, The authorities destroyed his studio, just completed, including foundations, only the pictures

taken by the artist were left.

2011  On April 4th, Ai Weiwei was arrested for tax evasion, causing many demonstrations of support worldwide.

The artist was released on bail, after 81 days in jail.

2012  On  April 24 th, Ai Weiwei was elected unanimously new foreign member of the Royal Academy of Fine
Arts in Stockholm.

2013  Ai Weiwei will be one of the representatives of Germany at the Venice Biennale 2013, announced officials
of the German Pavilion.

 D. Sicard

Multiple Sources: Like every synthesis, this  biography only exists, thanks to the work of specialists that can be found  in the books and catalogues indexed in the bibliography of this site.

Michel Nau at The Tate Modern - London 2010

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