We attended the preview of Ai Weiwei’s huge new installation at Factory International’s Warehouse on July 1st. Four years in the making, it has been planned since before the building itself opened.
The sheer scale of the exhibition beggars belief and, as might be expected, the works blur the boundaries between art, politics, and activism. If anyone can truly say they have suffered for their art, Weiwei can. On April 3rd, 2011, he was arrested while boarding a flight from Beijing to Taipei because travelling, he was told, “would damage state security”. He was incarcerated for 81 days, held in appallingly cramped conditions and mistreated, all while facing an obviously trumped-up charge of tax evasion that carried a possible 11-year prison sentence.
The title, Button Up!, comes from the millions of buttons that were donated to him after a manufacturer in Croydon folded. From them he created the huge flags seen in the image, representing the eight nations that fought China during the Opium Wars. The other major new work is History of Bombs, a mural made from 3.5 million toy bricks depicting life-sized missiles and bombs. It is a chilling sight.
Dominating the Warehouse is the enormous 49-metre inflatable boat, Law of the Journey, first shown in 2017. Packed with faceless figures fleeing persecution, with others lying lifeless on the ground, it is colossal—there really is no better word.
Another powerful installation recreates the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, in which more than 69,000 people died, many of them children. The terrible loss of life was attributed in part to shoddy construction. Anti-corruption campaigner Tan Zuoren exposed the failings, and Weiwei travelled to Sichuan to testify on his behalf. The night before the trial, Weiwei’s hotel room was broken into and he was struck on the head, suffering a brain haemorrhage that very nearly killed him. In the installation, the names of the thousands of children who died are read aloud, making for one of the exhibition’s most moving moments.
After the preview we heard Factory International’s Creative Director, Low Kee Hong, in conversation with Weiwei, who came across as remarkably self-effacing. From Friday 3rd to Saturday 4th July, Ai will undertake a 24-hour recreation of his detention, re-enacting his 81 days at the hands of China’s Public Security Bureau. Quite how he finds the inner strength to relive such an ordeal is beyond me.
The exhibition runs from July 2nd to September 6th.
Go.
Paul Schofield for Canal St Media