TATE MODERN 12 October 2010 – 2 May 2011
The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds
Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds challenges our first impressions: what you see is not what you see, and what you see is not what it means. The sculptural installation is made up of what appear to be millions of sunflower seed husks, apparently identical but actually unique. Although they look realistic, each seed is made out of porcelain. And far from being industrially produced, 'readymade' or found objects, they have been intricately hand-crafted by hundreds of skilled artisans. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall's vast industrial space, the seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape. The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content make this work a powerful commentary on the human condition.
One of China's leading Conceptual artists, Ai is known for his social or performance-based interventions as well as object-based artworks. Citing Marcel Duchamp, he refers to himself as a 'readymade', merging his life and art in order to advocate both the freedoms and responsibilities of individuals. 'From a very young age I started to sense that an individual has to set an example in society', he has said. 'Your own acts and behaviour tell the world who you are and at the same time what kind of society you think it should be.' As material for his art, he draws upon the society and politics of contemporary China as well as cultural artefacts such as ancient Neolithic vases and traditional Chinese furniture, whose function and perceived value he challenges and subverts.
Sunflower Seeds is the latest of a number of works that Ai has made using porcelain, one of China's most prized exports. These have included replicas of vases in the style of various dynasties, dresses, pillars, oil spills and watermelons. Like those previous works, the sunflower seeds have all been produced in the city of Jingdezhen, which is famed for its production of Imperial porcelain. Each ceramic seed was individually hand-sculpted and hand-painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops. This combination of mass production and traditional craftsmanship invites us to look more closely at the 'Made in China' phenomenon and the geopolitics of cultural and economic exchange today.
For Ai, sunflower seeds – a common street snack shared by friends – carry personal associations with Mao Zedong's brutal Cultural Revolution (1966-76). While individuals were stripped of personal freedom, propaganda images depicted Chairman Mao as the sun and the mass of people as sunflowers turning towards him. Yet Ai remembers the sharing of sunflower seeds as a gesture of human compassion, providing a space for pleasure, friendship and kindness during a time of extreme poverty, repression and uncertainty.
Sunflower Seeds is a vast sculpture that can be gazed upon from the Turbine Hall bridge, or viewed at close range. Each piece is a part of the whole, a poignant commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. There are over one hundred million seeds, five times the number of Beijing's population and nearly a quarter of China's internet users. The work seems to pose numerous questions. What does it mean to be an individual in today's society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?
Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, China, where he lives and works.
The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds is curated by Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern, supported by Kasia Redzisz, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern.
Quotes from a conversation with Ai Weiwei on 31 May 2010 and 1 June 2010, Beijing (with Juliet Bingham and Marko Daniel)
AW: In China, when we grew up, we had nothing . . . But for even the poorest people, the treat or the treasure we'd have would be the sunflower seeds in everybody's pockets.
AW: It's a work about mass production and repeatedly accumulating the small effort of individuals to become a massive, useless piece of work.
AW: China is blindly producing for the demands of the market . . . My work very much relates to this blind production of things. I'm part of it, which is a bit of a nonsense.
AW: For me, the internet is about how to act as an individual and at the same time to reach massive numbers of unknown people . . . I think this changes the structure of society all the time – this kind of massiveness made up of individuals.
AW: Useless or useful: it all relates to value judgement and aesthetic judgement.
AW: From a very young age I started to sense that an individual has to set an example in society. Your own acts or behaviour tell the world who you are and at the same time what kind of society you think it should be.
AW: I always want to design a frame or structure that can be open to everybody.
AW: Only by encouraging individual freedom, or the individual power of the mind, and by trusting our own feelings, can collective acts be meaningful.
AW: I wouldn't say I've become more radical: I was born radical.
AW: I spend very little time just doing 'art as art'.
AW: I try not to see art as a secret code. About the exhibition
Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small works, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain. Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape. Porcelain is almost synonymous with China and, to make this work, Ai Weiwei has manipulated traditional methods of crafting what has historically been one of China’s most prized exports. Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon and the geo-politics of cultural and economic exchange today.
Update: Friday 22 October 2010 The landscape of sunflower seeds can be looked upon from the Turbine Hall bridge, or viewed at close-range in the east end of the Turbine Hall on Level 1. It is no longer possible to walk on the surface of the work, but visitors can walk close to the edges of the sunflower seed landscape on the west and north sides. Although porcelain is very robust, we have been advised that the interaction of visitors with the sculpture can cause dust which could be damaging to health following repeated inhalation over a long period of time. In consequence, Tate, in consultation with the artist, has decided not to allow members of the public to walk across the sculpture. Sunflower Seeds is a total work made up of millions of individual pieces which together from a single unique surface. In order to maintain and preserve the landscape as a whole, Tate asks visitors not to touch or remove the sunflower seeds.
Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern "Ai Weiwei's Unilever Series commission, Sunflower Seeds, is a beautiful, poignant and thought-provoking sculpture. The thinking behind the work lies in far more than just the idea of walking on it. The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content create a powerful commentary on the human condition. Sunflower Seeds is a vast sculpture that visitors can contemplate at close range on Level 1 or look upon from the Turbine Hall bridge above. Each piece is a part of the whole, a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. The work continues to pose challenging questions: What does it mean to be an individual in today's society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?"
Update: 28 April 2011 We understand from news reports that the artist Ai Weiwei was arrested by the Chinese authorities on Sunday 3 April as he tried to board a plane to Hong Kong. The artist remains uncontactable and his whereabouts are unknown. We are dismayed by developments that again threaten Ai Weiwei's right to speak freely as an artist and hope that he will be released immediately. In response to Ai Weiwei's arrest and detainment, leading museums around the world have joined and launched an online petition to express concern for Ai's freedom and call for his release, including Guggenheim Museum; the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD); Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Gwangju Biennale, Korea; and the Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Paris. We sincerely hope that our collective action using social networking sites - Ai Weiwei's favored medium of social sculpture - will promote Ai's liberty and the principle of free creative expression. To sign the museums' petition visit http://www.change.org/
Update 22 June 2011 We are pleased to hear that Ai Weiwei has been released on bail and has returned home. We await further details regarding his situation, his well-being and that of his associates
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