Taking over four rooms of Alcatraz - the former military prison, site of Native American protests and now one of America's most famous national parks - Weiwei's seven site-specific installations aim to prompt visitors to consider the experience of police force, as well as the art as an act of conscience.
The Alcatraz exhibition, opening Sept. 27, will feature sculptures, sound installations and other mixed-media work scattered among various locations on the Northern California island.
Recently a new generation of natural "wanderers" embarked on a monumental task in Muir Woods, a national monument named in honor of America's most famous naturalist John Muir.
Endangered species transferred from creek to hatchery until habitat improves
Ai's Alcatraz show is a joint project of the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which oversee the penitentiary-turned-park, and the San Francisco-based For-Site Foundation, a nonprofit that commissions artwork in public places.
What a difference a year makes. Last September, all eyes were on the bay for the America's Cup, starring Larry Ellison. This year, we're casting our glances in the same direction to Alcatraz, for the exhibition of the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
In an upcoming landmark exhibition, set to open Sept. 24, off San Francisco Bay in the off-limits areas of the former prison Alcatraz, Ai will present a show cheekily titled “@Large” a reference to the area’s heritage of incarceration, Ai’s own flight from China’s clandestine security apparatus, and the artist’s persistent and active use of Twitter to disrupt China’s forces of censorship that have long dogged his efforts to promote increased respect for human rights in the Asian country.
Finally, details about Ai Weiwei's exhibition on Alcatraz Island have been released. Arguably the most anticipated show of the year, "@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz" will see seven original, site-specific installations strewn throughout four spots on the island, For-Site Foundation revealed. The whole idea behind staging the show at the former prison turned national park is to prompt viewers to question the world's current state of human rights.
Celebrated Chinese dissident, architect and artist Ai Weiwei's highly anticipated exhibition "@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz" will open this fall on September 27th and run through the end of April 2015. The exhibition will feature seven site-specific installations in four different locations on the former federal prison island, three of which are not normally open to the sightseeing public.
Workers will begin assembling @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz in buildings that are part of the old military and federal prison in late August. It’s a perfect venue for an artist who has riled government officials in Beijing to the point of his own imprisonment.
Tickets to "@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz" will go on sale June 27. The show, which will feature seven site-specific installations by the Chinese conceptual artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, opens Sept. 27.
In this installment of BioBlitz 2014 video coverage, we highlight the taxonomists whose job it is to find and identify species, and to organize the wide variety of life on earth.
