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Ai Wei-Wei is a Beijing-based artist.
Catherine Yu-Shan Hsieh is an associate editor at NY Arts.
Ai Wei-Wei, Fountain of Light, 2007. Steel and glass crystals on a wooden base, 700 x 529 x 400 cm. Rendered drawing for Fountain of Light. Courtesy of the artist.Catherine Yu-Shan Hsieh: A year ago, you presented installation Fountain of Light at Tate Liverpool in the U.K. What was the inspiration for this piece?
Ai Wei-Wei: I wanted to do a piece outside of Tate that has a strong appearance in the environment, with a strong sense of the location. I think Vladimir Tatlin’s “Monument for Third International” is a failed utopian structure. I wanted to transform it as a chandelier that somehow clashed on the ground. The twist I made on the sculpture made this idea possible. The chandelier itself became a kind of meaningless effort with light glooming around it. I always wanted to do something like that—something that has a sense of purpose, that is completed with a complicated process and techniques, but at the same time remains a useless product.
CH: Last year during Documenta 12 in Germany, you brought the audience Fairytale – 1001 Chairs and Template. Fairytale – 1001 Chairs consisted of 1001 Qing-Dynasty wooden chairs, which were spread in groups as “stations for reflection” around the different exhibition venues. Template was a gigantic construction of 1001 wooden doors and windows from destroyed Ming- and Qing-Dynasty houses. Why 1001? What is the significance of this particular number?
AW: The number 1001 is one person more than one thousand. The significance is to try to emphasize individuals rather than groups. To me it would suggest and relate to collected individuals rather than a group. It represents individual consciousness and awareness.
CH: Template was a two-fold installation, where the entire construction later collapsed. What were you trying to say that got hidden away underneath the debris of these ancient doors and windows?
AW: Template was a work inspired by demolished old buildings from old dynasties. It had been collected and reconstructed as a temple-like structure for Documenta. It was exposed outdoors during a rainstorm, which added colors to this fragment from another era. I made a decision to show the work in different phases, to emphasize that continuity is possible, that art is not an end but a beginning, and that art can be a joint effort between the artist and nature.
CH: Being a son of a poet, how do you think this plays into your artistic vision, if at all?
AW: I think to come from that root makes me perceive art differently. My perspective becomes more related to literature and spirituality rather than just form and surface. The concept of a work always comes first and is valued more important than others.
CH: Coming from China, where a system existed, or exists, and censorship prevailed, perhaps still prevails, how has this influenced your work and your artistic identity?
AW: Living in a system under the communist ideology, an artist cannot avoid fighting for freedom of expression. You always have to be aware that art is not only a self-expression but a demonstration of human rights and dignity. To express yourself freely, a right as personal as it is, has always been difficult, given the political situation.
CH: Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?
AW: All my inspiration comes from my relationship with the kind of environment I’m in. It has to do with the existing conditions and surroundings.
CH: What have you been working on lately? What is involved in your process?
AW: I have been working on a few books, a long documentary film, preparing several upcoming shows, architectural planning and designs. In those processes I have to deal with production people such as workers, carpenters, structure engineers, and my FAKE editorial team, plus over hundreds of interviews in the past year.
CH: You are one of the designers for the national Olympic stadium in Beijing. How has this experience affected your roles as an artist?
AW: It’s just one among our 40 other architectural projects. I had a chance to work with architect Herzog de Meuron, with whom I have built a wonderful working relationship and friendship.
CH: Two years ago during an interview with BBC News, you said China was not ready for your art, which was why you had not had a solo show. How are things now? What cultural changes do you think have taken place in China? When will you hold a solo exhibition in your own country? What do you think the show will be about?
AW: I think the show has to be about how individual artists are free to express themselves, and for this simple condition, China is not ready for a show like that. Most facilities are owned by the state, under the culture authority department, which is bureaucratic and incapable. The bureaucrats still follow the communist ideology. The strong censorship in terms of expression does not encourage any booming of culture. As long as this structure remains, I would not show and announce my work formally in this nation.
CH: Now that you have garnered international recognition, where do you see yourself and your art five years from now?AW: It happened unexpectedly. I do feel there are more responsibility and obligation to work with more possibilities. I don’t know about five years from now. I have no plans for that—maybe I’ll be forgotten by then.
