Ai Weiwei, the Chinese provocateur, has an exhibition in Italy that will be on display until May. His latest works can now be seen in Bologna, and soon his art will be shown overseas as well. The exhibition in Italy, titled Who Am I?, focuses on the tensions between tradition and experimentation, preservation and destruction, while the American exhibition opening in March will concentrate on his earlier works.
The exhibition at Palazzo Fava was inspired by the artist’s conversations with artificial intelligence and presents Ai Weiwei’s artistic universe in the continuous tension between tradition and experimentation, preservation and destruction. Ai’s commitment and relentless search for truth, which led to his political persecution, and his ability to use a wide range of media to express complex and provocative ideas are key features of his work.
Ai Weiwei is among the most popular artists in the world, and next year, he will have his first American retrospective in a decade at the Seattle Art Museum. His last retrospective, held in 2012 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., was a great success, earning critical acclaim and attracting large crowds. The upcoming exhibition, opening on March 12, 2025, will feature over 100 works, curated by Foong Ping, the museum’s curator of Chinese art. She stated that the exhibit will explore the connections between Ai’s art and activism, with a primary focus on his art from the 1980s and 1990s, a period less known in the U.S., despite Ai living in the country for much of that time. During this period, Ai worked under the influence of Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, creating conceptual works that questioned authorship and raised numerous social issues, ranging from his status as a Chinese immigrant to the AIDS crisis. “My intention is to find a common language that describes the trends and patterns, those things that have stood the test of time, and those that preoccupied his first decade and still remain with him decades later,” she said.
Controversy and scandal have not escaped Ai Weiwei’s career. The Chinese government detained him after he criticized the regime and spoke out in favor of immigrants while living in places that were not welcoming to them. Recently, his comments about Israel and Hamas on social media led his representative, Lisson Gallery, to postpone an exhibition.
Foong said that her exhibition will not shy away from the various controversies Ai has been involved in. “He’s a rebel – a provocateur,” she said. The exhibition, Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, will be on view until September 7, 2025.