Why You Should Go See Ai, Rebel at Seattle Art Museum

Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei—the largest US exhibition of Ai’s work to date—has been on display for just over a month in downtown Seattle. Ai is a contemporary Chinese artist most notable for his open criticism of the Chinese Government and his many subsequent arrests. Ai, Rebel collects a large range of his work, including film, photography, sculpture, and large-scale installations. The exhibition is glaringly relevant to the Trump administration’s current interference and censorship in American art, as well as their prominent arrests due to political expression.

The main exhibit opens with two massive oil paintings of Mao Zedong that appropriate historical posters from China’s Cultural Revolution. This emulation is done through the illusion of corrugated iron despite the canvas being flat, criticizing the cheap and criminal qualities of Mao. As the exhibit continues, many pieces displaying the destruction and vandalism of classical Chinese ceramics and furniture appear, including one of Ai’s most famous and provocative works, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995). This piece is a series of photographs that depict Ai’s simple destruction of a 2,000 year old urn that caused outrage due to its cultural and symbolic value. In response to the controversy, Ai ironically said, “Chairman Mao used to tell us that we can only build a new world if we destroy the old one,” referring to the widespread destruction of antiquities and abandonment of historical China that Mao enforced.

When I visited Ai, Rebel, one of the most memorable pieces in the exhibition was the life-size recreation of his prison cell during his 81-day detention in 2011. The outside is blank due to his blindfolded entry into the room, but the audience can physically walk into the model, experiencing the muted sound, harsh lighting, and claustrophobic feeling that Ai suffered from incessantly. The next focus of Ai, Rebel was his advocacy for the victims, particularly students–of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, a disaster that caused tens of thousands of preventable deaths due to shoddy government-built buildings. Ai created three distinct pieces in response: a snake made of schoolchildren’s backpacks that covers the ceiling, a list of over 5,000 child victims that covers a wall, and a piece titled Forge—a massive tangle of warped iron bars that model the reinforcing bars pulled from collapsed buildings. 

A remarkable part of the experience was the sheer popularity of the exhibit. Ai, Rebel was packed, despite being spread over the majority of the top floor, requiring a timed entrance ticket, and my visit being over a month after its debut. The exhibit is also uniquely spread across all three Seattle Art Museum locations—the downtown location, the Asian Art Museum, and the Olympic Sculpture Park—which makes the audience even larger than it already appears. The popularity of the exhibit was unexpected for me, as I have never seen this level of reception in a local Seattle Museum. The sense of community that this creates is very valuable, as I sometimes catch myself and others being pessimistic about the future and the perception of physical modern art.

Besides Ai’s existing fame, I partially credit this popularity to the parallels of the Trump administration’s actions. Ai has a few pieces that directly reference American politics, but the likeness is most apparent in the Chinese government’s treatment of Ai and his art. The rampant arrests of immigrants, especially those who speak against the Trump administration, are eerily similar to Ai’s depictions of his many arrests throughout the exhibit. Trump recently took over the Kennedy Center and ordered a stop to several productions he deemed “wokey,” instead pushing more passive shows like Cats and Hello, Dolly. The newly appointed executive director of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grennel, stated, “Yes, I cut the DEI bullshit because we can’t afford to pay people for fringe and niche programming that the public won’t support… Yes, we are doing programming for the masses.” Ai, Rebel is in direct opposition to the blatant censorship and pathetic pushing of “programming for the masses.” Despite the content originally targeting the Chinese government, its message closely applies to the Trump administration’s actions. Although the exhibit never explicitly states that association, its impact is apparent to the audience, judging by the conversations and audience-written messages near the exit. 

Ai, Rebel is absolutely vital to see, whether that be for the community, the lessons of Chinese history and advocacy, the dystopian likenesses to modern America, or just the truly impressive skills and craft of Ai’s art! Also, it’s affordable (and free for teens on certain days)! Go see it!