Ai Weiwei exhibit at Alcatraz
Ai Weiwei
National Post
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.
Los Angeles Times
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.
KQED Arts
After being jailed by the Chinese government in 2011, and his work censored in the country, the dissident artist Ai Weiwei received his passport back this week.
Los Angeles Times
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.
KQED Arts
The title of international art star Ai Weiwei’s installation on Alcatraz, @Large, is a contradiction, since the artist himself is anything but. The unusual exhibition on the site of the famous penitentiary opens this weekend and explores themes of freedom and imprisonment.
Examiner.com
In what many consider the hottest ticket in the art world, China’s best known dissident, artist Ai Weiwei, has created a series of works on the former prison island of Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay.
ABC 7 News
Alcatraz is undergoing a big change. The former prison which was home to Machine Gun Kelly and Al Capone is now hosting what many say is the most anticipated contemporary art show of the year.
KQED Arts
On September 27, @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, a series of site-specific commissions within the historic former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary will debut. Don’t expect to see the artist; he remains unable to travel, though his ideas will be everywhere.
KQED Arts
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.
Complex Art+Design
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.
