We have never been to Alcatraz. It is not a place that was at the top of my list, but someplace that always seemed like it would be fun to visit.
But as a part of Doreen's convention, there was a tour of Alcatraz, which currently has the Chinese Artist Ai Wei Wei's exhibit installed.
We are big Ai Wei Wei fans, and this show was called Ai Wei Wei @ Large. It was a site specific installation that is ending later this month. SO if you want to go, you better go quick.
There were multiple pieces of the installation, starting with a huge Chinese kite:
The eyes look like the Twitter bird to me, and there were phrases written on some of the sections.
The second piece was my favorite, called "Trace", which was Lego portraits of various prisoners of conscience being held (or having been held) in jail for their views.
The curator told us the story about how she needed to know who was going to be represented, not to censor them (or so she hoped) but to make sure the National Park Service was prepared for any blowback that might occur. She found out that Snowden was going to be included about three days before the installation. To their credit, the National Park Service (and the State Department) did not object.
As we were leaving, Doreen had noticed that one of the Legos has been kicked out of place. She replaced it, thereby becoming part of the art.
The next piece was called "Refraction" and was a wing made up of solar cook stoves from Tibet. You couldn't get too close to this one, so it made less of an impact.
The most moving piece to me was called "Stay Tuned" which was set in Cell Block A. Cell Block A had not been open to the public prior to this show. Ai Wei Wei took various recordings, and played them in about a dozen cells. Each cell had a three legged stool where you could sit an listen. To the credit of the other viewers, it was easy to wait a minute or two (or not at all) and listen as long as you wanted. It was tremendous.
I don't have any photos of the next piece, called "Illumination". This one used the two "psychiatric observation cells" as music boxes, playing Hopi chants. Very intense, and more than a little disturbing.
The second to last was called "Blossom" which was a multi-layered installation. They were ceramic flowers placed in various toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. They represented the "Hundred Flowers" campaign that Mao waged in the 1950s. The plan was that Mao would let you pick up a flower, and say anything you wanted. But Mao was using this as a trick. He arrested the people who would say things against him or the Communist party.
The final piece was called "Yours Truly" which let you send post cards to the folks depicted in the second piece. We all wrote short notes.
Good show. More on Alcatraz later.
But as a part of Doreen's convention, there was a tour of Alcatraz, which currently has the Chinese Artist Ai Wei Wei's exhibit installed.
We are big Ai Wei Wei fans, and this show was called Ai Wei Wei @ Large. It was a site specific installation that is ending later this month. SO if you want to go, you better go quick.
There were multiple pieces of the installation, starting with a huge Chinese kite:
The eyes look like the Twitter bird to me, and there were phrases written on some of the sections.
The second piece was my favorite, called "Trace", which was Lego portraits of various prisoners of conscience being held (or having been held) in jail for their views.
The curator told us the story about how she needed to know who was going to be represented, not to censor them (or so she hoped) but to make sure the National Park Service was prepared for any blowback that might occur. She found out that Snowden was going to be included about three days before the installation. To their credit, the National Park Service (and the State Department) did not object.
As we were leaving, Doreen had noticed that one of the Legos has been kicked out of place. She replaced it, thereby becoming part of the art.
The next piece was called "Refraction" and was a wing made up of solar cook stoves from Tibet. You couldn't get too close to this one, so it made less of an impact.
The most moving piece to me was called "Stay Tuned" which was set in Cell Block A. Cell Block A had not been open to the public prior to this show. Ai Wei Wei took various recordings, and played them in about a dozen cells. Each cell had a three legged stool where you could sit an listen. To the credit of the other viewers, it was easy to wait a minute or two (or not at all) and listen as long as you wanted. It was tremendous.
I don't have any photos of the next piece, called "Illumination". This one used the two "psychiatric observation cells" as music boxes, playing Hopi chants. Very intense, and more than a little disturbing.
The second to last was called "Blossom" which was a multi-layered installation. They were ceramic flowers placed in various toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. They represented the "Hundred Flowers" campaign that Mao waged in the 1950s. The plan was that Mao would let you pick up a flower, and say anything you wanted. But Mao was using this as a trick. He arrested the people who would say things against him or the Communist party.
The final piece was called "Yours Truly" which let you send post cards to the folks depicted in the second piece. We all wrote short notes.
Good show. More on Alcatraz later.
