Ai Weiwei will have his first U.S. retrospective in a decade at the Seattle Art Museum next year.
His previous retrospective, initially held at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. in 2012, was highly successful, attracting both critical acclaim and large crowds. This upcoming exhibition will similarly showcase a selection of Ai’s work spanning several decades.
Opening on March 12, 2025, the show will feature over 100 works and will be curated by Foong Ping, a curator of Chinese art at the museum. In a phone interview, Foong mentioned that the exhibition will delve into both Ai’s art and activism, highlighting the connections between the two.
“I’m trying to balance the significant moments of his life with the art itself,” Foong explained. “Why do we still look at it? What makes it so impactful?”
Ai’s work has involved actions like smashing ancient Chinese vases, making conceptual gestures such as raising his middle finger to cultural landmarks, and filling vast spaces with bicycles, faux sunflower seeds, and more. In recent years, he has also become known for creating large sculptures out of Legos and constructing massive trees out of wood.
Foong mentioned that one objective is to highlight Ai’s art from the 1980s and ’90s, a period less known in the U.S., despite Ai being based in the country for much of that time. During this era, Ai was influenced by Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, creating conceptual artworks that challenged ideas of authorship and addressed various social issues, including his experience as a Chinese immigrant and the AIDS crisis.
