FOR-SITE Foundation
  • Share
  • Search
  • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff, Board, Partners
    • Press Room
    • Contact
    • Website Credits
  • Projects
    • Overview
    • On View
    • Past
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Artist Programs
  • Places
    • Alcatraz Island
    • Fort Mason
    • Fort Winfield Scott
    • Fort Point
    • The Presidio
    • Nevada City Residency
  • Events
  • Field Notes
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donor Events
    • Supporters
    • Visionaries
  • Shop
Press Room

Press Coverage: @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz

About @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz

Devin Katayama, “What Ai Weiwei’s New Passport Means for the Artist’s Career,” KQED, July 24, 2015. Listen online or download PDF

Katie McMurran, “Art and Activism Collide on Alcatraz Island,” KPCC, April 3, 2015. Listen online

Lee Romney, “In Ai Weiwei Show at Alcatraz, Tourism and Human Rights Go Hand in Hand,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2015. Read online or download PDF

Jane Ingram Allen, “Review: @Large Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz,” Sculpture, April 2015. Download PDF

Home & Design Trends, Vol. 2 No. 9 2015. Download PDF

Henri Neuendorf, “Ai Weiwei Urges Visitors to Alcatraz Exhibition to Write to Political Prisoners,” Artnet, February 26, 2015. Read online or download PDF

Julia Halperin, “Thousands Write to Prison Pen Pals Through Alcatraz Art Installation,” The Art Newspaper, February 24, 2015. Read online or download PDF

Annie Buckley, “Critics Picks: Ai Weiwei,” Artforum, February 5, 2015. Read online or download PDF

Carla Escoda, “The Artist is Absent: Ai Weiwei @Large on Alcatraz,” Huffington Post, January 15, 2015. Read online

Robert Atkins, Art in America, January 2015. Download PDF

Christian Frock, KPFA.org’s APEX Express, November 20, 2014. Listen online

Jon Carroll, “Some Things Need Remembering; Come to Alcatraz,” SF Gate, November 19, 2014. Read online or download PDF

“Ai Weiwei’s Newest Collection Turns Alcatraz into a Statement on Freedom,” Fusion’s America with Jorge Ramos, November 13, 2014. Watch online

“How Alcatraz Became a Canvas for Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei,” KQED’s Forum, October 22, 2014. Listen online

Madison Park, “On Alcatraz, Ai Weiwei Raises a Voice on Dissent,” CNN, October 22, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Shane Bauer, “Dragons, Legos, and Solitary: Ai Weiwei’s Transformative Alcatraz Exhibition,” Mother Jones, October 11, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Lee Rosenbaum, “‘Don’t Retreat. Retweet’: My Twitter Tour of Ai Weiwei’s Installation at Alcatraz,” CultureGrrl, October 10, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Carol Strickland, “Ai Weiwei Breaks Into Alcatraz,” Art in America, October 9, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Mina Kim, “Artist Ai Weiwei Explores Definition of Freedom at Alcatraz,” PBS Newshour, October 8, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Sandhya Dirks, “A Chinese Artist Transforms Alcatraz Into a Lego-Carpeted Political Statement,” PRI’s The World, October 2, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Christina Larson, “Escape to Alcatraz,” Smithsonian, October 2014. Read online or download PDF

Stav Ziv, “Ai Weiwei’s @Large Exhibit Opens at Alcatraz,” Newsweek, September 27, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Caille Millner, “Ai Weiwei Exhibition Is More Than a ‘Big Event,’ ” San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Mina Kim, “Confined in China, Ai Weiwei Directs Alcatraz Exhibit from Afar,” Morning Edition, September 27, 2014. Listen online

Christopher Knight, “‘@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz’ a Powerful Meditation on Repression,” Los Angeles Times, September 26, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Sara Johnson, “Ai Weiwei Designs Exhibition for Alcatraz,” Architects, September 26, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Christian L. Frock, “Postcard from the Rock: A Review of Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz,” KQED Arts, September 26, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Melissa Chan, “Ai Weiwei’s Art Activism on Alcatraz (AJ+ Asks),” Al Jazeera America, September 26, 2014. Watch online.

Monika Auger, “Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Brings Exhibit to Alcatraz,” Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Katy Steinmetz, “@Large: Inside Ai Weiwei’s Unprecedented Exhibit on Alcatraz,” Time, September 25, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Whitney Phaneuf, “Ai Weiwei’s Songs of Freedom on Alcatraz,” Hyperallergic, September 25, 2014. Read online

Jason Farago, “@Large: Ai Weiwei Takes Over Alcatraz with Lego Carpets and a Hippie Dragon,” Guardian, September 24, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Kenneth Baker, “Ai Weiwei Installation on Alcatraz: No Breakout,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Jori Finkel, “Art Man of Alcatraz: Ai Weiwei Takes His Work to Prison,” New York Times, September 18, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Sam Whiting, “Chinese Dissident Artist Ai Weiwei Hits Alcatraz,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Avital Andrews, “Alcatraz to Host Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei’s Exhibit,” Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Emily Wilson, “Alcatraz Will Become an Art Gallery: Ai Weiwei Exhibit,” SFWeekly, September 15, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Christian L. Frock, “No Man Is an Island: Ai Weiwei’s Life and Art Before Alcatraz,” KQED Arts, September 15, 2014. Read online or download PDF

David Ng, ” ‘@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz’ to Explore Artistic Liberty and More,” Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Barbara Pollack, “Cell Block Ai,” ARTnews, September 2014. Download PDF

“Prison Break,” W, September 2014. Download PDF

“Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz,” San Francisco Cottages and Gardens, September 2014. Download PDF

Sara Johnson, “Ai Weiwei Designing Installations for Alcatraz,” Architect, June 12, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Jason Rehel, “Ai Weiwei Exhibit Headed to Alcatraz While New York Banker Plans Museum Dedicated to the Chinese Dissident Artist,” National Post, May 15, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Jacob Kastrenakes, “Ai Weiwei Exhibition Coming to Alcatraz’s Off-Limit Areas,” The Verge, May 14, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Susan Cheng, “Finally, Details about Ai Weiwei’s ‘@Large’ Exhibition on Alcatraz Island Have Been Released,” Complex, May 14, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Cyrus Musiker, “Alcatraz Tickets Expected to Become Scarce During Ai Weiwei Installation,” KQED Arts, May 13, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Sam Whiting, “‘@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz’ Tickets Go on Sale June 27,” SFGate, May 13, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Andrew Dalton, “Ai Weiwei’s Exhibition ‘@Large’ Opens September 27th,” SFist, May 13, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Leigh Anne Miller, “Get Your Tickets to Ai Weiwei’s Alcatraz,” Art in America, May 13, 2014. Read online or download PDF

Allison Meier, “Art Movements,” Hyperallergic, December 6, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Sam Whiting, “Ai Weiwei Alcatraz Installation Finalized,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2013. Read online or download PDF

“Ai Weiwei to Take Over Alcatraz in 2014,” Artobserved, December 5, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Jason Diamond, “How Ai Weiwei’s Alcatraz Project Changes the Meaning of Prisons as Public Art Sites,” Flavorwire, December 4, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Jori Finkel, “Chinese Dissident Ai Weiwei to Take His Art to Alcatraz,” International Herald Tribune, December 4, 2013. Read online

“Ai Weiwei to Display New Works at Alcatraz,” Artinfo, December 4, 2013. Read online or download PDF

“Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Commissioned to Create New Site-Specific Works on Alcatraz Island,” artdaily.org, December 4, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Andrew Dalton, “Ai Weiwei Talks Alcatraz Exhibition,” SFist, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Jori Finkel, “Chinese Dissident Ai Weiwei to Take His Art to Alcatraz,” New York Times, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

David Ng, “Ai Weiwei to Create Art Installations for Alcatraz,” Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Delia Paunescu, “Ai Weiwei Will Do a Show at Alcatraz,” Vulture, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Leigh Silver, “Ai Weiwei Is Officially Staging an Exhibition at Alcatraz Island,” Complex, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Benjamin Sutton, “Ai Weiwei Taking Over Alcatraz in 2014,” Artinfo, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

Sam Whiting, “Chinese Activist/Artist Weiwei to Create Installation on Alcatraz,” SFGate, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

“TED News in Brief: The (real) secret to a great infographic, Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz, and more,” TED, December 3, 2013. Read online or download PDF

About

  • Overview
  • Staff, Board, Partners
  • Press Room
    • Lands End Press Coverage
    • Select Press Coverage: Sanctuary
    • Select Press Coverage: Home Land Security
    • Press Coverage: @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
    • Press Coverage: Goldsworthy in the Presidio
    • Press Coverage: International Orange
    • Press Coverage: Presidio Habitats
    • Press List Signup
  • Contact
  • Website Credits + Colophon

Field Notes

  • Kija Lucas at The Guardhouse

  • Ai Weiwei Yours Truly Facebook Banner

    “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” Virtual Cinema Release

  • Alfredo Jaar

    Black Lives Matter

Artist Editions

  • Syjuco DSC_2956a copy
  • alfarrowmultiple
  • michelepredmultipleopen
  • trevorpaglen-challenge-coin_rdh_001

Facebook

For-Site Foundation

Twitter

  • #LandsEnd featured artist Andrea Chung’s video Come Back to Jamaica (2009), & Come Back to Yourself (2013), will be… https://t.co/HXwouRNnBa
  • FOR-SITE is thrilled to partner with local chefs & mixologists in hosting small, safe cocktail parties & suppers on… https://t.co/q1lElox0gx

Instagram

FOR-SITE collaborator @hankwillisthomas & artist @wideawakes designed  #EyesonIran flying billboards in solidarity with the women of Iran. 

The billboards can be seen this week on South beach, Miami and at @untitledartfair 

@forfreedoms multi-day, multi-media art installation spans Miami and artworks throughout @4freedomspark in NYC
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
FOR-SITE collaborator @hankwillisthomas & artist @wideawakes designed #EyesonIran flying billboards in solidarity with the women of Iran. The billboards can be seen this week on South beach, Miami and at @untitledartfair @forfreedoms multi-day, multi-media art installation spans Miami and artworks throughout @4freedomspark in NYC
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
This #GivingTuesday we want to celebrate and honor YOU and the other partners and supporters who have buoyed our wildest dreams. Access to all of our exhibition sites these past years—from the former Cliff House to Alcatraz to military batteries and churches—was gifted to us from our park partners. The 110 artists with whom we have worked blew us away with breathtaking, career-defining work, often under short order. FOR-SITE simply would not exist without the well of generosity and cooperation that is our friends, and we intend to express our gratitude this year. 

You can continue to support FOR-SITE by donating today at the link in bio.
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
This #GivingTuesday we want to celebrate and honor YOU and the other partners and supporters who have buoyed our wildest dreams. Access to all of our exhibition sites these past years—from the former Cliff House to Alcatraz to military batteries and churches—was gifted to us from our park partners. The 110 artists with whom we have worked blew us away with breathtaking, career-defining work, often under short order. FOR-SITE simply would not exist without the well of generosity and cooperation that is our friends, and we intend to express our gratitude this year. You can continue to support FOR-SITE by donating today at the link in bio.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
The participating artists of FOR-SITE’s 2018 exhibition SANCTUARY, represented diverse ideologies and backgrounds (many including experiences as migrants and refugees), but their contributions to the exhibition—spectacularly varied in content and design—conformed to a single format, lending a unifying element that bridged racial, cultural, and religious differences. Installed on the floor of the historic Fort Mason Chapel, the four-by-six-foot wool rugs—woven in Lahore, Pakistan, using traditional materials and hand-knotting techniques—called to mind traditional prayer rugs, but they transcended religious connotations, encompassing thoughtful viewpoints on cultural identity, sense of place, and belonging.

Photo by @robertdiversherrick
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
The participating artists of FOR-SITE’s 2018 exhibition SANCTUARY, represented diverse ideologies and backgrounds (many including experiences as migrants and refugees), but their contributions to the exhibition—spectacularly varied in content and design—conformed to a single format, lending a unifying element that bridged racial, cultural, and religious differences. Installed on the floor of the historic Fort Mason Chapel, the four-by-six-foot wool rugs—woven in Lahore, Pakistan, using traditional materials and hand-knotting techniques—called to mind traditional prayer rugs, but they transcended religious connotations, encompassing thoughtful viewpoints on cultural identity, sense of place, and belonging. Photo by @robertdiversherrick
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
#LandsEnd featured artist @suzannehusky has explored interactions among humans, animals, and plants through a multifaceted art practice that includes sculpture, installation, photography, and film for the last 20 years. 

Husky sculpts her trees from used clothes and found textiles, translating our cast-off clothing—informed by age and gender, class, culture, and politics—to the individualizing characteristics of trees, suggesting the deep interconnectedness of humans and their natural surroundings. “Forest” is both an homage to an ecological system that supports countless plant and animal species and a memorial to that same system under threat of erasure. #artaboutplace
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#LandsEnd featured artist @suzannehusky has explored interactions among humans, animals, and plants through a multifaceted art practice that includes sculpture, installation, photography, and film for the last 20 years. Husky sculpts her trees from used clothes and found textiles, translating our cast-off clothing—informed by age and gender, class, culture, and politics—to the individualizing characteristics of trees, suggesting the deep interconnectedness of humans and their natural surroundings. “Forest” is both an homage to an ecological system that supports countless plant and animal species and a memorial to that same system under threat of erasure. #artaboutplace
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
#LandsEnd featured artist @danielbeltraphoto’s striking, large-scale aerial photographs of melting polar ice caps and oil spills highlight the rate and scale at which humanity is impacting our world. His juxtapositions of nature and destruction provide an almost overwhelming sense of physical scale and emotional dread, through flattened but dynamic images that flirt with abstraction.
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#LandsEnd featured artist @danielbeltraphoto’s striking, large-scale aerial photographs of melting polar ice caps and oil spills highlight the rate and scale at which humanity is impacting our world. His juxtapositions of nature and destruction provide an almost overwhelming sense of physical scale and emotional dread, through flattened but dynamic images that flirt with abstraction.
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
FOR-SITE turns 20 in 2023! We feel extremely grateful to all of you, the artists, and to our long-standing park partners, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (@parksconservancy), the Presidio Trust (@presidiosf), and the @nationalparkservice, for such outstanding companionship and support of our work.

Stay tuned! The celebrations begin next month, in December, followed by a milestone anniversary year punctuated by programs and events, and a to-be-announced biennial exhibition open to the public.

In the meantime, you may have noticed we changed our name and branding, with our new website coming soon. The FOR-SITE Foundation is now FOR-SITE, yet we remain dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place.

We look forward to celebrating with you this next year!
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
FOR-SITE turns 20 in 2023! We feel extremely grateful to all of you, the artists, and to our long-standing park partners, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (@parksconservancy), the Presidio Trust (@presidiosf), and the @nationalparkservice, for such outstanding companionship and support of our work. Stay tuned! The celebrations begin next month, in December, followed by a milestone anniversary year punctuated by programs and events, and a to-be-announced biennial exhibition open to the public. In the meantime, you may have noticed we changed our name and branding, with our new website coming soon. The FOR-SITE Foundation is now FOR-SITE, yet we remain dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place. We look forward to celebrating with you this next year!
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
Election Day has arrived! VOTE for the planet and the future you want to see in the world 🌍🌊 🗳️
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
Election Day has arrived! VOTE for the planet and the future you want to see in the world 🌍🌊 🗳️
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
@anateresafernandez talking sea bodies and On the Horizon on @kqed live. #LandsEnd
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
@anateresafernandez talking sea bodies and On the Horizon on @kqed live. #LandsEnd
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
“The response among members of the visual arts community in the Bay Area was swift and certain: The Times story, a consensus of those who spoke with The Chronicle said, does not represent the region accurately, and they do not see a local decline.

The most common criticism of the Times’ reporting was that San Francisco should not be viewed through the lens of an art market, but rather as a larger arts community consisting of many public and private institutions as well as independent artists, arts workers and patrons.” - @tonybravosf 

@anateresafernandez “On the Horizon” at #FORSITE’s #LandsEnd exhibition featured  in @tonybravosf “S.F.’s art scene, disparaged by the New York Times, pushes back” for @sfchronicle_datebook
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
“The response among members of the visual arts community in the Bay Area was swift and certain: The Times story, a consensus of those who spoke with The Chronicle said, does not represent the region accurately, and they do not see a local decline. The most common criticism of the Times’ reporting was that San Francisco should not be viewed through the lens of an art market, but rather as a larger arts community consisting of many public and private institutions as well as independent artists, arts workers and patrons.” - @tonybravosf @anateresafernandez “On the Horizon” at #FORSITE’s #LandsEnd exhibition featured in @tonybravosf “S.F.’s art scene, disparaged by the New York Times, pushes back” for @sfchronicle_datebook
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
9/9

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Field Notes

  • Kija Lucas at The Guardhouse

  • Ai Weiwei Yours Truly Facebook Banner

    “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” Virtual Cinema Release

Virtual Tour

Donate

Support innovative art about place.
Learn more or donate now!

Donate Online
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

©2021 FOR-SITE Foundation - Credits + Colophon

Join our mailing list to stay up to date.

 

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.