“I’m not a person who has a clear plan,” Ai Weiwei said. And yet, he observed, flowing “like a leaf on the river” can lead to unexpected destinations.
In this video, the acclaimed dissident artist ruminates about his life, his approach to art-making and his new exhibition at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. “Ai Weiwei: Bare Life” collects dozens of artworks created over the last two decades, including several never before exhibited in the United States, as well as “Bombs” (2019), a monumental new wallpaper created for the museum’s Saligman Family Atrium.
“Ai Weiwei: Bare Life” remains on view at the Kemper Art Museum through Jan. 5, 2020. An exhibition catalog, which includes an extensive interview conducted by Sabine Eckmann, the museum’s William T. Kemper director and chief curator, is distributed by the University of Chicago Press.
For more information, visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.
* With additional reporting by Isabel Chard and Naomi Belay.
