Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei will present his work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values in a new exhibition at the Design Museum in London next year.
Titled Ai Weiwei: Making Sense, the exhibition will draw on the artist’s “fascination with historical Chinese artifacts, placing their traditional craftsmanship in dialogue with the more recent history of demolition and urban development in China.”
Some of his most important works will be exhibited alongside collections of previously unseen objects.
The exhibition, which runs from April 7 to July 30, will also feature new orders.
The Offbeat Sari is among the 2023 exhibitions announced for the Design Museum.
The artist, best known for working on the design of Beijing’s Olympic Stadium and filling Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds in 2010, is a vocal critic of the human rights record man in China.
Other exhibitions announced as part of the Design Museum’s 2023 program include The Offbeat Sari, which will ‘unravel’ the many forms of the garment, demonstrating that it is ‘a metaphor for the layered and complex definitions of India today. ‘today’.
Organized by Priya Khanchandani, head of conservation and interpretation at the museum, the exhibition will bring together, on loan, dozens of “the best saris of our time from Indian designers, wearers and craftsmen”.
Also announced is Skateboard, an exhibit that will map the evolution of skateboard design from the 1950s to today.
As the world’s leading museum of contemporary design, we are uniquely placed to explore these compelling global stories that highlight the sometimes playful but invariably decisive role of design in many aspects of our lives.
Tim Marlow, Museum of Design
Design Museum director and general manager Tim Marlow said: “With sarees, skateboards and a spellbinding performance by Ai Weiwei, 2023 will be one of the most groundbreaking years in recent memory at the Design Museum.
“As the world’s leading museum of contemporary design, we are uniquely placed to explore these compelling global stories that highlight the sometimes playful but invariably decisive role of design in so many aspects of our lives.
“We are delighted that Ai Weiwei is presenting his first major design-focused exhibition here at the Design Museum.
“He is clearly one of the most important artists in the world, but his practice also deeply embraces design and architecture, and the cultural and political impact of his work will resonate very differently throughout this historic exhibition. collaborative.”
