Ai weiwei: circle of animals / zodiac heads world tour. Mar 18, 2011 ai weiwei: circle of animals / zodiac heads world tour ai weiwei zodiac head – rooster all images are installation views of ai weiwei’s ‘circle of animals: zodiac heads’ at the são paolo biennale 29th photographs by ding musa © AW asia ‘circle of animals / zodiac heads’ is the first major public sculpture project by chinese contemporary artist, curator, architectural designer and social activist ai weiwei in which he has re-interpreted twelve bronze animal heads, collectively representing the traditional chinese zodiac that once adorned the famed fountain-clock of the yuanming yuan, an imperial retreat in beijing. ai weiwei zodiac head – dog contrary to western astrology, which looks to stars as a means of predicting one’s fate, the chinese zodiac is influenced by traditional concepts of the five elements (earth, fire, water, metal and wood), yin and yang and ancient calendrical cycles. ai weiwei zodiac head – pig ai weiwei zodiac head – rat ai weiwei zodiac head – ox.
The Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei receive title of “Best Project in a Public Space” New York, 20 March 2012, Art Media Agency (AMA). The United States International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA) has award the “Best Project in a Public Space” prize to Ai Weiwei for his Zodiac Heads. The AICA-USA honour artists, curators, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions for their excellence in the design and carrying out of exhibitions. The winning projects were appointed and elected by the 400 active members to recognise exhibitions which were shown between June 2010 and June 2011.
Ai Weiwei, the famous Chinese contemporary artist, was praised for his reinterpretation of the twelve animal bronze heads depicting the traditional Chinese Zodiac. Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads is the first public sculpture project of this scale by the artist. Circle of Animals / Zodiac Head is the masterpiece of a world touristic exhibition organised by AW Asia. It started in September 2010 in São Paulo and will end its tour in autumn 2013 in Tel-Aviv. Circle of Animals. Zodiac Heads - tumblr. So I was thinking how am I going to do this? I could see I wanted to say what he said, that somehow his words are speaking through us.
First of all, I’d like to show you a picture. [Opens her jacket to reveal a t-shirt with a missing poster for Ai Weiwei, stamped “found” at the bottom.] A few days ago I went to visit in a studio of Julian Schnabel and I said to him that I am going to accept this award and he said to me I have this t-shirt — the same t-shirt that I am wearing tonight — and he told me this story of how he made this. Susan Sontag said, and I think it’s really important to start with her because she’s such a free thinker, and she said, “The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known.” I really relate to him so much because, you know, coming from ex-Yugoslavia, in our country, we had to ask three years in advance to the government to make spontaneous demonstrations. “What I’m saying is,” he said, “if one metal proves useless, create another. Ai Weiwei sculptures set auction record.
13 February 2015Last updated at 07:47 ET Ai Weiwei's sculptures are a reinterpretation of figures on an 18th Century water clock A set of 12 gold-plated animal head sculptures by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has sold for £2.8m ($4.3m) at auction. Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, which features 12 sculptures representing the Chinese zodiac, set a new auction record for the artist. Ai has made a number of versions of the zodiac sculptures, but this was the first complete set to come to auction. Ai's previous auction record of $1.2m (£735,000) was set by Map of China last April. The zodiac sculptures were inspired by a set of smaller sculptures that formed an 18th Century fountain clock at Emperor Yuanming Yuan's Beijing imperial retreat. The fountain clock was ransacked by French and British troops in 1860. The sculptures, which sold to one of three telephone bidders, were originally purchased from the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York.