When a world-famed artist and dissident icon was landing his first solo show in Bangkok, he didn’t settle for just one.
Two exhibitions by Ai Weiwei are on display at two Bangkok venues, marking the 63-year-old Chinese artist-in-exile’s first time showing in Thailand.
The first exhibition, Law of the Journey, is a 60-meter inflatable raft with 250 refugees aboard. With his piercing concern over the inhumanity facing diasporas during the past decade, the 2016 work remains his largest installation to date.
Law of the Journey is on display as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale, which spans 10 venues across the capital through the end of January.
Ai’s second exhibition, Year of the Rat, is running alongside Andy Warhol’s originals at riverside venue River City Bangkok. The collection, based on the idea that 2020 is a calamitous year that comes every six decades in the Chinese lunar calendar, features 12 zodiac animal heads made from Lego bricks. The zodiac has been a recurring element in his work critical of Chinese nationalism. Ten more installations, including a marble sculpture and golden rings symbolizing how recurring lunar cycles of provocation, advancement and regression interact with each other.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, a feature film that chronicles Ai’s artistic approach and social activism will also screen for THB150 at the gallery on three select dates during the exhibition. More details are available online.
FIND IT:
Ai Weiwei’s ‘Year of the Rat’
Until Dec. 10
Tang Contemporary Art Bangkok
Second floor, River City Bangkok
BTS Saphan Taksin
Ai Weiwei’s ‘Law of the Journey’
Until Jan. 31
Ninth floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)
BTS National Stadium
