Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/06/2021 - 28/11/2021
10:30 am - 7:30 pm
Location
Galeria do Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria
Location Address Edifício Cordoaria Nacional, Av. da Índia
City Lisbon
Country/State
Categories
‘Rapture’, a major exhibition by Ai Weiwei, opens at Cordoaria Nacional in Lisbon.
The word Rapture has several meanings in English. It is the transcendent moment that connects the earthly dimension with the spiritual dimension. At the same time, it is the hijacking of our rights and freedom. Rapture may also be the sensory enthusiasm for ecstasy. Ai Weiwei – Rapture gathers these ideas in the form of an exhibition that presents the two creative dimensions of an artist who is an icon of our times: the side of fantasy, where this search for the imaginary is explored; the other side focuses on the reality and the emergency of issues that overflow in our lives with the worsening of human conditions for political, social or environmental reasons. Ai Weiwei offers us a closer, in-depth look into the essential questions that affect all peoples, such as where did we come from and what are we doing here.
Ai Weiwei – Rapture is the biggest exhibition of Ai Weiwei in Europe, with 4000sqm, displaying for the first time all of his most iconic work in the same space and at the same time, while presenting four new pieces produced exclusively in Portugal.
Ai Weiwei – Rapture gathers 85 works, including large-, medium- and small-scale installations and sculptures, as well as videos/films and photos. The exhibition is curated by the Brazilian Marcello Dantas, creator of a series of major exhibitions by the artist in Latin America in recent years.
Ai Weiwei bio
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese dissident artist and activist, globally known as one of the most influential, interventional, and creative names in contemporary art, who is also a prominent political activist, a symbol of resistance to oppression and a defender of civil rights and freedom of expression, with a vast artistic production that has marked this struggle in recent decades. He is an articulator of humanity’s deepest cultural roots, especially of Chinese traditions and iconography, lost or forgotten since the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong (1966 – 1976). This more fantastic, mystical, and spiritual dimension is a strong element, although less noticeable in his work. The search for materials, techniques and symbology from other times is a work of cultural archaeology that is part of his quest for the identity that China has lost and currently suffers due to the disconnection with its roots.
