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Composition Gallery

Tbilisi

Ai Weiwei

(Chinese, born 1957)

river crabs (from papercut portfolio) by ai weiwei

Ai Weiwei

River Crabs (from Papercut Portfolio), 2019

Price on Request

artist's hand by ai weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Artist's Hand, 2017

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cedar (large) by ai weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Cedar (Large), 2022

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year of the ox by ai weiwei

Ai Weiwei

Year of the Ox, 2021

Price on Request

Biography

Timeline

1957
Born in Beijing, China
1958 - 1978
Resided in Xinjiang, China
1978
Enrolled in Beijing Film Academy
1981 - 1993
Lived in the United States, mostly in New York City
1982
Enrolled in Parsons School of Design
1993
Returned to China
1994
Founded the China Art Archives and Warehouse, Art Director. Beijing, China
Chinese Contemporary Art Award
2008
Collaborated on design for Bird’s Nest, Beijing National Stadium for 2008 Summer Olympics
2010
The Prism of Reason, Kassel Citizen Award, Kassel, Germany

Exhibitions

2015
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2015:
Ai Weiwei, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Downing College, Cambridge, UK(solo exhibition)
2014
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2014:
@Large, Alcatraz, San Francisco, USA(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: New York 1983-1993, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei in the Chapel, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Lisson Gallery, London, England(solo exhibition)
According to What?, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA(solo exhibition)
Evidence, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany(solo exhibition)
Sunflower Seeds, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany(solo exhibition)
Baby Formula, Ayala Museum, Makati City, Metro Manila, Phillipines(solo exhibition)
Taiping Tianguo: A History of Possible Encounters, e-flux, New York, USA
State of Emergency, Davidson College, Belk Visual Arts Center, Davidson, USA
2013
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2013:
According to What?, Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL, USA(solo exhibition)
Ordos, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: Screening Room, Hotel Bauer, Venice, Italy(solo exhibition)
Baby Formula, Galerie Michael Janssen, Singapore, Singapre(solo exhibition)
According to What?, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Resistence and Tradition, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo (CAAC), Seville, Spain(solo exhibition)
Interlacing, Museu da Imagem e do Som, Sao Paulo, Brazil(solo exhibition)
55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale de Venezia, German Pavilion, Venice, Italy(solo exhibition)
Disposition, Zuecca Project Space, Complesse delle Zitelle, Giudecca, Chiesa di Sant’ Antonin, Venice Italy
According to What?, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, USA(solo exhibition)
Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Framed, Duddell’s, Hong Kong
Ground Zero, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar
Island, Dairy Art Centre, London, UK
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2013, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada
Emscherkunst 2013, Emscher river, Essen/Ruhr Valley, Germany
Fuck Off 2, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
A Journal of the Plague Year, Fear, ghosts, rebels, SARS, Leslie and the Hong Kong story, Sheung Wan Civic Centre
Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Of Bridges and Borders, Parque Cultural of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile
2012
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2012:
Forge, Mary Boone Gallery, New York City, NY, USA(solo exhibition)
New York Photographs 1983-1993, Ernst Museum (in collaboration with Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin, Beijing),Budapest,Hungary(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Galleria Continua San Gimignano, Sa n Gimignano, Italy(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: According to What?, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA(solo exhibition)
Perspectives: Ai Weiwei, The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, USA(solo exhibition)
A Living Sculpture, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993, Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., USA(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Lisson Gallery, Milan, Italy(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: Five Houses, Architecture Center Houston, Houston, TX, USA(solo exhibition)
Interlacing, Kistefos-Museet, Jevnaker, Norway(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg, Netherlands(solo exhibition)
Interlacing, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, Hermann Park, Houston, TX, USA(solo exhibition)
Sunflower Seeds, Mary Boone Gallery, New York City, NY, USA(solo exhibition)
Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea
Newtopia: The State of Human Rights, Kazerne Dossin Museum and Documentation Centre of the Holocaust and of Human
Rights, Mechelen, Belgium
Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 – 1990, The Swiss National Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Art and the City, Zurich, Switzerland
Art + Press, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2011
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2011:
Louisiana Contemporary: Ai Weiwei, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: Absent, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan(solo exhibition)
Dropping the Urn, ceramics 5000 BCE – 2010 CE, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993, Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin, Germany(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993, Asia Society, New York, NY, USA Art/Architecture, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria(solo exhibition)
Interlacing, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland(solo exhibition)
Interlacing, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals, Somerset House, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals, Pulitzer Fountain, New York, NY, USA(solo exhibition)
Circle of Animals, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Lisson Gallery, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Sunflower Seeds, Kunsthalle Duchamp, Cully, Switzerland(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Germany(solo exhibition)
Re-writing Worlds, Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia
liberalis, Kunst + Projekte, Sindelfingen, Germany
DaringDesign, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
You All Fell For My Act, MAMA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Measuring the World, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria Shanshui, The Museum of Art Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
The Magic of Clay, Gl Holtegaard Modern Art, Gl Holte, Denmark
The Last Freedom, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany
Art Stage Singapore 2011, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Staging Action: Performance in Photography since 1960, MoMa, New York, USA
2010
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2010:
Ai Weiwei, Faurschou Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark(solo exhibition)
Cube Light, Misa Shin Gallery, Tokyo, Japan(solo exhibition)
A Few Works from Ai Weiwei, Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin, Germany The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London, UK Hurt Feelings, Galerie Christine Koenig, Vienna, Austria(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Galerie Urs Meile, Lucerne, Switzerland(solo exhibition)
Dropping the Urn, ceramics 5000 BCE – 2010 CE, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, USA(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, USA(solo exhibition)
Barely something, Stiftung DKM, Duisburg, Germany(solo exhibition)
Dropping the Urn, ceramics 5000 BCE – 2010 CE, Arcadia University Gallery, Glenside, USA(solo exhibition)
Mermaid Exchange, Langelinie, Copenhagen, Denmark(solo exhibition)
29th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paolo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy
Passages: Travels in Hyperspace, LABoral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation, Gijon, Asturias, Spain
The Big Bang, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Une Idee, une Forme, un Entre – Poesie/Politique du corporel, Migrosmuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
The Flower of May, Gwangju Museum of Art and Kunsthalle Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea
Taking a Stance, 8 Critical Attitudes in Chinese and Dutch Architecture and Design, OCAT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Regionale 10, Liezen, Austria
Presidio Habitats, Presidio, San Francisco, USA
The Problem of Asia, Chalk Horse, Sydney, Australia
Marcel Duchamp and the Forestay Waterfall, Salle Davel, Cully, Switzerland
Lost and Found, Neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Germany
Taking a Stance, 8 Critical Attitudes in Chinese and Dutch Architecture and Design, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Rem(a)inders, Galleria Continua, Beijing, China
Acconci Studio + Ai Weiwei: A Collaborative Project, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
Taking a Stance, 8 Critical Attitudes in Chinese and Dutch Architecture and Design, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
The State of Things – Contemporary Art from China and Belgium, Brussels/Beijing, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Until Now: Collecting the New (1960-2010), Target Gallery, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Taking a Stance, 8 Critical Attitudes in Chinese and Dutch Architecture and Design, Dutch Culture Center, Shanghai Expo, Shanghai, China
Radical Conceptual, Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Contemplating the Void, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
2009
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2009:
With Milk_find something everybody can use, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain(solo exhibition)
World Map, Faurschou Gallery, Beijing, China(solo exhibition)
So sorry, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany(solo exhibition)
According to What?, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan(solo exhibition)
Ways Beyond Art, Ivory Press Space, Madrid, Spain(solo exhibition)
Four Movements, Phillips de Pury, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Beg, Borrow and Steal, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
Fascination with the Foreign: China – Japan – Europe, The Hetjens Museum, Dusseldorf, Germany
Garbage, AfterGallery, projectroom, Moscow, Russia
Attitude, Shit-art Center, Zhengzhou, China
Pete and Repeat – the works from the Zabludowicz Collection, 176, London, UK
Void of Memory, Kimusa of Platform 2009, Seoul, Korea
Fairytale, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel
I want to talk to you, T.art Center, Beijing, China
The Big World: Recent Art from China, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, USA
Map Games: Dynamic of change, Center for Contemporary Arts (CAOS), Terni, Italy
United Technologies, Lismore Castle, Lismore, Ireland
The Making of Art, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Action – Camera: Beijing Performance Photography, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA
2008
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2008:
Ai Weiwei, Albion Gallery, London, UK(solo exhibition)
Ai Weiwei, Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, Korea(solo exhibition)
Under Construction, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Campbelltown Arts Center, Sydney, Australia(solo exhibition)
Illumination, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA(solo exhibition)
Go China! Ai Weiwei, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands(solo exhibition)
Earthquake, Art Channel, Beijing, China
China: Construction / Deconstruction - Chinese Contemporary Art, Museu de Arte de São Paolo, São Paolo, Brazil
Out there: Architecture Beyond Building, Biennale Arcitecture, 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice, Italy Liverpool Biennial International 08: Made Up, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Super Fengshui: UCCA Site Commissions, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Reconstruction # 3. The Artists Playground, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, UK
China Power Station: Part III. Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Branded and on Display. Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, USA
Branded and on Display. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, USA
Branded and on Display. Salt Lake City Art Center. Salt Lake City, USA
Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
Hypallage –The Post-Modern Mode of Contemporary Chinese Art, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Half-Life of a Dream – Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Selections from the Hara Museum's Permanent Collection, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, USA
China. The City exp(l)osed, Institut Francais d'Architecture & du Patrimoine, Paris, France
Map games: Dynamic of change, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China China Gold – Chinese Contemporary Art, Musée Maillol, Paris, France Interval of Silence, RedStar Gallery, Beijing, China
Body Media, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
Delirious Beijing, PKM Gallery, Beijing, China
Community of Tastes, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
New Vista – The Phenomenon of Post-Tradition in Contemporary Art, White Space Gallery, Beijing, China
Body Media, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Red Aside: Chinese Contemporary Art of the Sigg Collection, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain
The Real Thing. Contemporary Art from China, Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2007
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2007:
Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland(solo exhibition)
Traveling Landscapes, AedesLand, Berlin, Germany(solo exhibition)
Sixth Shenzhen Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition A Vista of Perspectives, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China
Origin Point: Star Star Group. Retrospective Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China EI – Entity Identity – Beijing Series. Western Concepts – Chinese Drafts, Stedelijk Museum s' Hertogenbosch, MB 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection, CIFO – Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, USA
Inspired by China – Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions, Museum of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, USA
China Now, Cobra Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Get It Louder, SOHO Shangdu, Beijing, China
Something New Pussycat, Klara Wallner Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Energies – Synergy, Foundation De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium
Chinese Video: Chord Chances in the Megalopolis, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
Contemporary Art Exhibitions of Kogo Art Space, Kogo Art Space, Hangzhou, China
Metamorphosis: The Generation of Transformation in Chinese Contemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Thermocline of Art. New Asian Waves, ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
Art from China – Collection Uli Sigg, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
China Welcomes you... Desires, Struggles, New Identities, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
The Year of the Golden Pig – Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork University College, Cork, Ireland
Money, Beijing Today Gallery, Beijing, China
Forged Realities, UniversalStudios, Beijing, China
The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
ProjectWe are the future, 2nd Moskow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Art Centre Winzavod, Moscow, Russia
Branded and on Display, Kannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, USA Branded and on Display, Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Wichita, USA
A Continuous Dialogue, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
What about sculpture? Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
2006
Ai WeiWei Selected Exhibitions in 2006:
Fragments, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China(solo exhibition)
Art in Motion – Chinese Contemporary Art meets BMW Art Cars, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
This Is Not For You – Sculptural Discourses, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
Detours. Tactical Approaches to Urbanization in China, Eric Arthur Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
China now. Faszination einer Weltveränderung, Sammlung Essl, Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg / Vienna, Austria
Mahjong – Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
MoCA Envisage / Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia
Zones of Contact, 15th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Territorial. Ai Weiwei und Serge Spitzer, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Altered, Stitched and Gathered, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA China Power Station I, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Herzog & de Meuron. No 250. Eine Ausstellung, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Fill in the Blanks, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, China Busan Biennial 2006, Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan, Korea
Misleading Trails, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA
Misleading Trails, Schick Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, USA
Misleading Trails, Boyden Gallery, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, USA
Cityscapes 'Beijing Welcomes You'. Ein Stadtmodell von Lu Hao sowie Fotografien von Ai Weiwei, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hambur g, Germany
A Continuous Dialogue, Galleria Continua, Beijing, China
Inspired by China – Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA
China Contemporary. Architecture, Art and Visual Culture, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Black and Blue, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA
Antique Modernity – Breaking Traditions, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA
2006 Beaufort Outside, Museum of Modern Art, Oostende, Belgium
China zwischen Vergangenheit und Zukunft / Between Past and Future – New Photography and Video from China, Haus der Kultu ren der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA
Regeneration. Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA

Public Collections

Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, France
Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Museum DKM, Duisburg, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Tate Modern, London, England
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

Literature

2007
China Art Book. Uta Grosenick / Caspar Schübbe (Ed.), 680 pages, approx. 850 images, trilingual: Engl./Ger./Chin., Dumont Buchverlag, Cologne 2007.
Jocks, H-N. (2007). Ai Weiwei. Das Märchen von 1001 Chinesen. Kunstforum International, August-September, Bd. 187, pp. 428-443.
Tinari, P. (2007). A Kind of True Living. Artforum International, Summer 2007. pp. 453-459
Hopfener, B. (2007). Kunst aus China auf der Art Basel. Steigende Nachfrage. Available: http://www.artnet.de/magazine/news/hopfener/hopfener06-14-07.asp. Last accessed 21 June 2007
Frilanz, J. (2007). I Don’t Love Art. www.artnet.de, 08.06.07
Neidhart, C. (2007). Der Chinesentransporter. Weltwoche, 22.07. pp. 74-76
Tobler, K. (2007). Manche hatten nicht mal einen Namen. SonntagsZeitung, 27.Mai 2007, p. 54
Merewether, C. (2007). Ai Weiwei. The Freedom of Irreverence. Art Asia Pacific, 53. pp. 108-111.
Smith, K. (2007). Ai Weiwei. In: Tate Liverpool, The Real Thing. Contemporary Art from China. Liverpool: Tate Liverpool. pp. 30-42.
Mingels, G. (2007). Ein Nest für das neue China. Das Magazin, 15. pp 24-37.
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