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Yorkshire Sculpture Park
ai weiwei in the chapel
ysp.co.uk
24 May–2 November 2014
“The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay.”
Ai Weiwei
Left to right:
Iron Tree, 2013
Cast iron, edition of 3
(H) 628 x 710 x 710 cm
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is proud to announce an exhibition by Ai Weiwei,
opening in the Park’s newly refurbished 18th century chapel following a £500,000
restoration. The project, the first by Ai Weiwei in a British public gallery since
Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern in 2010, will be accompanied by poetry readings
from the works of celebrated poet Ai Qing, Ai Weiwei’s father. Ai Weiwei in the Chapel
opens to the public on Saturday 24 May 2014.
Fairytale-1001 Chairs, 2007
(Group #A14). Qing dynasty
wooden chairs (1644–1911),
5 chairs, different sizes
installation shot at Aue-Pavillon,
Documenta12, 2007, Kassel.
Collection of Erlenmeyer
Foundation, Switzerland
Iron Tree, 2013, a majestic six-metre high sculpture is presented in the chapel courtyard,
while the installation Fairytale-1001 Chairs, 2007-14, is presented inside the chapel with
three other works: the porcelain Ruyi, 2012; marble sculpture, Lantern, 2014, which
makes its premiere in the UK; and Map of China, 2009. The sculptures shown within
the chapel relate to ideas about freedom and to the individual within society, whilst
also connecting with the history and character of the building.
Iron Tree is the largest and most complex sculpture to date in the artist’s tree series,
which he began in 2009. Inspired by the wood sold by street vendors in Jingdezhen,
southern China, Ai’s trees are constructed from branches, roots and trunks from
different trees. Although like a living tree in form, the sculptures are obviously pieced
and joined together, being all the more poignant for their lack of life. Iron Tree
comprises 99 elements cast in iron from parts of trees, and interlocked using a
classic – and here exaggerated – Chinese method of joining, with prominent nuts
and screws. Combining both the natural and crafted, the sculpture will rust over time
and its installation in the secluded chapel garden makes a meditative space that gives
pause for thought and is a powerful reminder of the cycles of nature.
The second part of the exhibition, Fairytale-1001 Chairs, extends Ai’s major project
for Documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007, for which he brought 1,001 Chinese citizens to
Kassel for 20 days, representing each person with an antique chair. This transformational
experience highlighted the complications of travel for ordinary Chinese citizens. Since
his arrest in 2011, Ai’s own travel has been strictly limited and his passport is currently
confiscated.
Unable to travel to Yorkshire, and working from plans and photographs of YSP’s chapel,
Ai has selected 45 Fairytale-1001 Chairs and has conceived an installation of nine rows
of five chairs in the nave. Spaced so that each chair is solitary, they give heightened
awareness of the collective and the individual. The chairs date from the Qing Dynasty
(1644–1912) and in this context challenge the class and ritual functions of such furniture,
which originally was the preserve of privilege. In the stillness of the chapel, visitors are
invited to take a seat and consider freedom, refuge, sanctuary and their antonyms, and
to reflect on who may have sat before them, both on the chairs in China and within the
270-year-old Bretton Estate chapel. Through this simple act of participation, histories
and cultures meet in a contemplative environment. As the artist has said, “those chairs
are part of the fairytale – a symbolic gesture about memory and our past”.
Ai has selected two other works for the chapel. Ruyi translates to “as one wishes” and
so alludes to wish-fulfilment. Sitting somewhere between fungal organic form and
human internal organs, this lividly-coloured porcelain sculpture is one of a number of
Ruyi made by Ai Weiwei that take the traditional Chinese sceptre of the same name,
used by nobles, monks and scholars for around 2,000 years. Like talking sticks in other
cultures, ruyi denoted authority and granted individuals the right to speak and be heard,
so enabling orderly and democratic discourse.
For some years the Chinese authorities have surrounded Ai’s home with surveillance
cameras and every step he takes outside is recorded and monitored, resulting in 2010
with the series of works, Marble Surveillance Cameras. At around the same time, in a
humorous gesture of mockery and defiance, he decorated the real CCTV cameras with
red Chinese lanterns. For the chapel, Ai builds on this series and premieres the marble
Lantern, carved in stone from the same quarries used by emperors to build the
Forbidden City, and more recent rulers to build Mao’s tomb. Map of China, formed from
iron wood reclaimed from Qing dynasty temples, shows China as an isolated land.
With the artist’s consent, we also present readings of works by Ai’s father, Ai Qing
(1910-1996). Considered one of the most important 20th century Chinese poets, Ai Qing
initially supported Mao Sedong. However, in 1958, he was found guilty of ‘rightism’ and
with his family, including the baby Ai Weiwei, was sent to a labour camp and then exiled
until Mao’s death, after which the family was able to return to Beijing. Readings will be
made from across Ai Qing’s oeuvre, starting in 1932, and including important poems
such as Snow Falls on China’s Land, My Wet-Nurse, and Wall. They demonstrate Ai
Qing’s extraordinary ability to convey the strength of nature and the human spirit, even
in adversity, and so connect with Ai Weiwei’s own life and this exhibition in particular.
Chapel at Yorkshire Sculpture
Park. Photo Jonty Wilde
Notes to Editors
About the artist
Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 and spent his childhood in forced exile. He moved to New York in 1981, returning to
his ailing father in Beijing in 1993, where he continues to live and work, although under strict restrictions. He is widely
respected as one of the most versatile and influential artists of our time. A prolific artist, architect, author and activist, Ai
is a vocal critic of China’s record on democracy and human rights and in 2011 he was arrested and held for 81 days
without charge, prompting worldwide official and public protest. His 2013 heavy metal video Dumbass (from the album
The Divine Comedy) describes explicitly his treatment during detention. Recent and current solo exhibitions include
Evidence, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; Ai Weiwei: According to What?, Pérez Art Museum Miami; Ai Weiwei.
Resistance and Tradition, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville, Spain; German Pavilion, Biennale de Venezia,
Italy. With Herzog & de Meuron, Ai Weiwei was architect for the National Stadium of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Fairytale-1001 Chairs courtesy the artist; Leister Foundation, Switzerland; Erlenmeyer Stiftung, Switzerland and Galerie
Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne. Map of China courtesy The Frank Cohen Collection.
A solo exhibition by Ai Weiwei, part of the artist’s ongoing series Forever, will take place at Lisson Gallery, 23 May–12
July 2014, 27 Bell Street, London. lissongallery.com
about yorkshire sculpture park
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture. It is an
independent charitable trust and registered museum (number 1067908) situated in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton
Hall estate in West Yorkshire. YSP is one of six finalists for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014. ysp.co.uk
About the Chapel
Built in 1744 by Sir William Wentworth, the Georgian sandstone chapel is historically important within YSP’s Bretton
Estate. Nestled within the deer park, the Grade II* listed building was a part of the life on the estate during the 18th and
19th centuries, although it wasn’t until its acquisition by YSP in 2001 that it became more generally accessible. Artists
shown here prior to restoration include James Lee Byars, Shirin Neshat and Jem Finer.
Restoration work carried out over the last nine months has transformed the gallery into a unique and versatile gallery
space. Outside the building, work has included the renewal of the roof, repairs to eliminate water ingress and damp, and
the renovation of external stonework. Inside the chapel, repairs have been made to the floor and internal timbers, while
climactic conditions have been enhanced with the introduction of new lighting, heating and ventilation systems, and an
environmentally friendly air source heat pump. Visitors to the Park will now enjoy improved access to the chapel with a
new pathway from the visitor centre, wheelchair access into the building and an accessible toilet.
The £500,000 restoration of the chapel was supported by: English Heritage, Country Houses Foundation, The Wolfson
Foundation, The Headley Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, the Holbeck Charitable Trust, The Leche Trust, The John S Cohen
Foundation, Sir George Martin Trust, Kenneth Hargreaves Charitable Trust, Linden Charitable Trust, Jill Franklin Trust,
and generous visitor donations.
The lead professional advisor on the project was W. R. Dunn & Co Architects (RICS Conservation accredited building
surveyor) and the appointed main contractor was William Anelay.
Selected current & forthcoming exhibitions
Ursula von Rydingsvard (until 4 Jan 2015); Uncommon Ground: Land Art in Britain 1966–1979 (An Arts Council
Collection Touring Exhibition until 15 June 2014); Helen Benigson (2 Aug 2014); Nick Crowe & Ian Rawlinson:
Song for Coal (autumn 2014)
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