Chinese language dissident artist Ai Weiwei is to current his work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our altering values in a brand new exhibition on the Design Museum in London subsequent yr.
Titled Ai Weiwei: Making Sense, the exhibition will draw on the artist’s “fascination with historic Chinese language artefacts, inserting their conventional craftsmanship in dialogue with the newer historical past of demolition and concrete growth in China”.
A few of his most necessary works will probably be displayed alongside collections of objects which have by no means been seen earlier than.
The exhibition, which runs from April 7 to July 30, may also function new commissions.
The artist, greatest recognized for engaged on the design of Beijing’s Olympic stadium and filling the Tate Trendy’s Turbine Corridor with hand-crafted, porcelain sunflower seeds in 2010, is an outspoken critic of China’s human rights document.
Different exhibitions introduced as a part of the Design Museum’s 2023 programme embrace The Offbeat Sari, which can “unravel” the quite a few types of the garment, demonstrating it to be “a metaphor for the layered and sophisticated definitions of India as we speak”.
Curated by Priya Khanchandani, the museum’s head of curatorial and interpretation, the exhibition will carry collectively, on mortgage, dozens of the “best saris of our time from designers, wearers and craftspeople in India”.
Additionally introduced is Skateboard, an exhibition which can map the design evolution of the skateboard from the Nineteen Fifties to as we speak.
Because the world’s main museum of up to date design, we're uniquely positioned to discover these compelling international tales which spotlight the typically playful however invariably decisive position of design in so many points of our livesTim Marlow, Design Museum
Design Museum director and chief government Tim Marlow mentioned: “With saris, skateboards and a spellbinding present by Ai Weiwei, 2023 goes to be one of the vital ground-breaking of years in current reminiscence on the Design Museum.
“Because the world’s main museum of up to date design, we're uniquely positioned to discover these compelling international tales which spotlight the typically playful however invariably decisive position of design in so many points of our lives.
“We’re delighted that Ai Weiwei will current his first main design-focused exhibition right here on the Design Museum.
“He's clearly one of the vital necessary artists on the earth, however his apply additionally profoundly embraces design and structure, and the cultural and political affect of his work will resonate in very other ways all through this collaborative landmark exhibition.”