Ai Weiwei’s first exhibition in Turkey!
Sakıp Sabancı Museum prepares to host Ai Weiwei’s first exhibition in Turkey. The exhibition, which will be open on September 12, will display a wide selection of the artist’s works in addition to new ones. Focusing on Weiwei’s porcelain works, the exhibition bears traces of both his life story and his approach to the tradition of handicrafts and the history of art.
Offering a selection of works that focus on the journey of porcelain for his first exhibition in Turkey. the artist will be represented by his most iconic works. Expressing his thoughts about today’s world through traditional Chinese handicrafts, Ai Weiwei also provides a perspective of the paradoxes of the modern world.
The exhibition presents an extensive look into Weiwei’s art through a structure organized with his repetitive themes. The artist’s works that examine the transformation of value systems throughout ages and the concept of cultural history invite guests to understand the related cultural, artistic and historical values. Placing “ready-made objects of cultures” in his works, Ai Weiwei provides guests with opportunities of reinterpretation and shows how objects can be judged according to different values based on their contexts.
By questioning the concept of authenticity with his replicas, Ai Weiwei debunks the difference between the original and the copy. In light of ancient remains, Weiwei contemplates on history by adapting the Chinese and Greek pottery decorations and Egyptian wall paintings and offers us an extensive view of the contemporary world.