{"id":2528,"date":"2015-01-26T03:04:39","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T03:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/?p=2528"},"modified":"2015-10-25T19:21:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T19:21:20","slug":"ai-weiwei-large-in-the-alcatraz-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/?p=2528","title":{"rendered":"Ai Weiwei @Large in the Alcatraz prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write this post I am aware and grateful for the freedom of expression that allows me to voice my opinion when, how and where I want, as well as the privilege of living in a democracy. The events of two weeks ago in Paris #jesuischarlie<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>and this haunting and brilliant\u00a0show on Alcatraz island \u00a0@Large <\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei \u00a0should make you reflect on the things that we take for granted .<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/strong>
\n \u2014 Ai Weiwei<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is internationally renowned for work that defies the distinction between art and activism. In this exhibition of new works created specifically for Alcatraz, Ai responds to the island\u2019s layered legacy as a 19th-century military fortress, a notorious federal penitentiary, a site of Native American heritage and protest, and now one of America\u2019s most visited national parks. Revealing new perspectives on Alcatraz, the exhibition raises questions about freedom of expression and human rights that resonate far beyond this particular place.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Arriving at the prison island on the ferry from the docks of San Francisco is already a way of preparing you mentally for what you are about to experience. A big looming rock formation in the middle of the icy cold and wind-swept bay , the prison walls raise straight up in front of you , the small windows steel structures and barbed wire remind you all the time that you are in America’s once most infamous high security prison and the home of Al Capone and \u00a0George “machine gun” Kelly . \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ai’s sculpture, sound, and mixed-media installations occupy four locations in the former prison, these areas are usually restricted to the public, but all are open throughout the run of the exhibition.\u00a0@Large\u00a0turns Alcatraz into a space for dialogue about how we define liberty and justice, individual rights and personal responsibility. The artworks directly and imaginatively address the situation of people around the world who have been deprived of their freedom for speaking out about their beliefs \u2014 people like Ai himself.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A vocal critic of his nation\u2019s government, Ai was secretly detained by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011, and is still not permitted to travel outside China. As a result, the artist was unable to visit Alcatraz during the planning of this exhibition; he developed the artwork at his studio in Beijing, with the help of the FOR-SITE Foundation. But constraints have only galvanized the artist\u2019s commitment to art as an act of conscience. With this project, he aims to expand our understanding of “the purpose of art, which is the fight for freedom.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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When you get to the first of the 4 \u00a0buildings that house the show , all that you see around you is broken glass, smashed toilets and rubble everywhere. And then a huge bright silk dragon.<\/p>\n

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WITH WIND<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Both delicate and fearsome, the traditional Chinese dragon kite embodies a mythical symbol of power. Ai Weiwei unfurls a spectacular contemporary version of this age-old art form inside the\u00a0New Industries Building<\/a>. He says that for him, the dragon represents not imperial authority, but personal freedom: \u201ceverybody has this power.\u201d The individual kites that make up the dragon\u2019s body carry quotations from activists who have been imprisoned or exiled, including Nelson Mandela, Edward Snowden, and Ai himself.<\/em><\/p>\n

Scattered around the room are other kites decorated with stylized renderings of birds and flowers. These natural forms allude to a stark human reality: many are icons for nations with records of restricting their citizens\u2019 human rights and civil liberties.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ai\u2019s studio collaborated with Chinese artisans to produce the handmade kites, reviving a craft that has a diminishing presence in China. By confining the kites inside a building once used for prison labor, the artist suggests powerful contradictions between freedom and restriction, creativity and repression, cultural pride and national shame. He also offers a poetic response to the layered nature of Alcatraz as a former penitentiary that is now an important bird habitat and a site of thriving gardens.<\/em><\/p>\n

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