Chinese Zodiac...
3:09 p.m.
The city of Miami has a new art museum: the PAMM, which offers various private collections, mixed with travelling exhibitions. Among those private collections, it is possible to find Argentine artists, such as Guillermo Kuitca and Xul Solar, by whom the MNBA has wonderful works.
The building that holds the PAMM is kind of a futuristic pergola and, to welcome visitors at its gates, you can temporarily see one of the works of the controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads...
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, by Ai Weiwei
12 bronze sculptures. Various sizes.
Private collection
This representation of the Chinese zodiac is made of 12 sculptures, each representing one year in a 12-year-lunar calendar.
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, by Ai Weiwei
12 bronze sculptures. Various sizes.
Private collection
Ai Weiwei reproduces these heads that were originally designed in the 18th century by Italian and French Jesuits for China's Imperial Palace. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the sculptures were sacked by British and French troops, re-appearing finally in 2009 at an auction house in London.
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, by Ai Weiwei
12 bronze sculptures. Various sizes.
Private collection.
China bought them back and, with their return, the sculptures became synonym of Chinese Nationalism. Ai Weiwei decided to reproduce these controversial sculptures, object of tension and historic exchange between East and West, to express that the meaning of something usually depends of the traditions, politics and complex realities of their time.
0 comentarios