
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense
Justin McGuirk(Editor)
Design Museum (Publisher)
Published on 6. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-1-872005-63-8 (ISBN)
Description
The first book to dive exclusively into Ai Weiwei's approach to design and collecting, shedding light on the value we ascribe to everyday objects.
Artist, film-maker, architect, activist, collector - whatever mode Ai Weiwei is in, he is trying to tell us something about the state of the world. This book presents Ai's work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values. Confronted by the rapid pace of change in his country, Ai became fascinated by Chinese antiquities.
His vast collections of historical artefacts, from Stone Age tools to broken teapot spouts, attest to the way the language of objects speaks across the ages. Is this a classic tale of technical progress, or have we lost crucial qualities with the march of time? Ai invites us to make sense of these objects as he explores the tensions between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction.
Artist, film-maker, architect, activist, collector - whatever mode Ai Weiwei is in, he is trying to tell us something about the state of the world. This book presents Ai's work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values. Confronted by the rapid pace of change in his country, Ai became fascinated by Chinese antiquities.
His vast collections of historical artefacts, from Stone Age tools to broken teapot spouts, attest to the way the language of objects speaks across the ages. Is this a classic tale of technical progress, or have we lost crucial qualities with the march of time? Ai invites us to make sense of these objects as he explores the tensions between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
160 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 268 mm
Width: 202 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
1000 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-872005-63-8 (9781872005638)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Justin McGuirk is chief curator at the Design Museum and the director of Future Observatory.
Contributors:
Brian Dillon, Rachel Hajek, Julia Lovell, Tim Marlow, Justin McGuirk, Wang Shu, Eyal Weizman
Contributors:
Brian Dillon, Rachel Hajek, Julia Lovell, Tim Marlow, Justin McGuirk, Wang Shu, Eyal Weizman
Content
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Introduction to Beijing Photographs, 1993 - 2003
Part I - Works
- Evidence
- Construction/Destruction
- Ordinary Things
Part II - Texts
- Collecting China
- To Meet by Chance
- I Felt the Wind, the Air...
- One Hundred Thousand Things
- In Conversation: Eyal Weizman and Ai Weiwei
- Introduction
- Introduction to Beijing Photographs, 1993 - 2003
Part I - Works
- Evidence
- Construction/Destruction
- Ordinary Things
Part II - Texts
- Collecting China
- To Meet by Chance
- I Felt the Wind, the Air...
- One Hundred Thousand Things
- In Conversation: Eyal Weizman and Ai Weiwei