Ai Weiwei sunflower seeds

• Date:2010

  Artist: Ai weiwei:

  Themes: politics
• Father


  Joined the communist party in 1941 and was close to Mao who led communist party in China
• Civil war


  1. Between the republic and the communist

  2. Caused a war
• Mao


  Became ruler which led to repressions
• Father


  Accused of being anti-intellectual as he was a poet
• Wei Wei and his family


  1. Exiled and sent to Xingjing by Mao

  2. Ai Weiwei not able to return until his father was dead
• Ai Weiwei


  • Went to film academy in Beijing 1978
  • Introduced the previously banned self-expressionism
• Ai Weiwei


  • Influenced by Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp
• Ai Weiwei was arrested in 2013 in claims of tax evasion but this was not true it was because he was anti-communist
• Ai Weiwei's art


  Creates controversial art like flipping off different places around the world to project his own views of freedom of speech, and desire to expose the corruption of the government
• 100 million sunflower seeds


  Representative of the Chinese people as in Chinese propaganda sunflowers were used to represent people facing the leader Mao Tse-tung who symbolised the sun as sunflowers follow the sun to survive, by making each person an individual seed Ai Weiwei explores the complexities of the Chinese individuals
• Sunflower seeds art


  • Immersive which allows the viewer to connect with the piece through observation as well as touch, the piece was made to be walked on, sat on etc
  • Seeds are realistic making them appear to have been plucked from a sunflower seed which connects the viewer with nature
• Sunflower seeds art


  1. 30 step process with 1,600 artists involved

  2. Made from porcelain from the local mountains, China is also centre of the imperial porcelain trade for 100s of years
• “Each piece is a part of the whole, a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. The work continues to pose challenging questions: What does it mean to be an individual in today's society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?” Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern