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
Sanctuary

Ai Weiwei

(b. 1957, China)

Ai Weiwei’s Sanctuary design borrows imagery from a 360-degree wallpaper installation created for the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, titled The Plain Version of the Animal That Looks Like a Llama but Is Really an Alpaca. The work creates a pattern from graphic representations of chains, handcuffs, surveillance cameras, and the Twitter bird—allusions to restrictions on freedom generally, as well as Ai’s own battles with government detention, authoritarianism, and censorship. “The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned,” the artist has said. “This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.”

Projects

  • Overview
  • On View
  • Past
    • Lands End
    • Sanctuary
      • Cornelia Parker
      • Tammam Azzam
      • Sanctuary Volunteer
      • Uman
      • Hank Willis Thomas
      • Miguel Angel Ríos
      • Rashid Rana
      • Ranu Mukherjee
      • Aimé Mpane
      • Julio César Morales
      • Meleko Mokgosi
      • Sanaz Mazinani
      • Hayv Kahraman
      • Emily Jacir
      • Alfredo Jaar
      • Shirazeh Houshiary
      • Thaier Helal
      • Susan Hefuna
      • Mona Hatoum
      • Sherin Guirguis
      • Jeffrey Gibson
      • Nicholas Galanin
      • Ana Teresa Fernández
      • Brendan Fernandes
      • Marcos Ramírez ERRE
      • Ala Ebtekar
      • Jamal Cyrus
      • Mohammad Bozorgi
      • Sandow Birk
      • Diana Al-Hadid
      • Ammar al-Beik
      • John Akomfrah
      • Ai Weiwei
      • Shiva Ahmadi
      • Arwa Abouon
      • Adel Abidin
      • Hamra Abbas
    • Home Land Security
    • @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
    • Art About Place: FOR-SITE Foundation at the Presidio
    • International Orange
    • Presidio Habitats
    • The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project
    • Pae White: In Between the Outside-In
    • Chris Drury: Mushrooms | Clouds
    • Shi Guorui: Reproduction and Refashioning
    • Richard Long: The Path Is the Place Is the Line
    • New Work by Cornelia Parker
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Artist Programs

Field Notes

  • Ai Weiwei Yours Truly Facebook Banner

    “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” Virtual Cinema Release

  • Alfredo Jaar

    Black Lives Matter

  • AWW_HRW

    Ai Weiwei + Human Rights Watch

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

Get to know the history of FOR-SITE with our founder @cheryllhaines
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
Get to know the history of FOR-SITE with our founder @cheryllhaines
1 day ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
“Overall, this project examines the effects of xenophobia and national identification in southern Africa, and how this provides a context with which to understand the rise of nationalism in numerous countries across Europe and Southern Africa.”#MelekoMokgosi, Sanctuary(2018)
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
“Overall, this project examines the effects of xenophobia and national identification in southern Africa, and how this provides a context with which to understand the rise of nationalism in numerous countries across Europe and Southern Africa.”#MelekoMokgosi, Sanctuary(2018)
3 days ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
The fantastical realms portrayed in @shivaahmadi_studio’s large-scale paintings and animated video adaptations teeter on the threshold of annihilation, as a menagerie of Orwellian creatures carelessly brandishes bombs, hand grenades, and pipes. Stability and security are at their mercy; chaos is poised to erupt. Based in California but born in Tehran, Ahmadi was a witness to the destruction of the Iran-Iraq War at a formative time of her life. Her art reflects this experience in exploring the intersections of religion and politics, power and corruption, and the psychic landscape of war — a fearsome, controlling power that threatens to spin out of control at any moment. The delicate lines, gold tracery, and tiny figures suggest Persian and Indian miniature paintings transposed to a grand scale. The watercolor, imprecise and flecked with hair, rice, and salt granules — elements that introduce uncontrolled effects — conveys a precarious foundation beneath the precise, mechanistic imagery of war. 

Shiva Ahmadi’s Lotus and Knot was featured in #ForSite’s 2016 exhibition Home Land Security
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
The fantastical realms portrayed in @shivaahmadi_studio’s large-scale paintings and animated video adaptations teeter on the threshold of annihilation, as a menagerie of Orwellian creatures carelessly brandishes bombs, hand grenades, and pipes. Stability and security are at their mercy; chaos is poised to erupt. Based in California but born in Tehran, Ahmadi was a witness to the destruction of the Iran-Iraq War at a formative time of her life. Her art reflects this experience in exploring the intersections of religion and politics, power and corruption, and the psychic landscape of war — a fearsome, controlling power that threatens to spin out of control at any moment. The delicate lines, gold tracery, and tiny figures suggest Persian and Indian miniature paintings transposed to a grand scale. The watercolor, imprecise and flecked with hair, rice, and salt granules — elements that introduce uncontrolled effects — conveys a precarious foundation beneath the precise, mechanistic imagery of war. Shiva Ahmadi’s Lotus and Knot was featured in #ForSite’s 2016 exhibition Home Land Security
5 days ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
In #AiWeiwei’s Blossom (2015), he quietly transformed the utilitarian fixtures in several Hospital ward cells and medical offices into delicate porcelain bouquets. @aiww designed intricately detailed encrustations of ceramic flowers to fill the sinks, toilets, and tubs that were once used by hospitalized prisoners. Blossom drew on and altered natural imagery as well as traditional Chinese arts. Rather than referring to national iconography, however, the flowers here carried other associations. The work could have been seen as symbolically offering comfort to the imprisoned, as one would send a bouquet to a hospitalized patient. #ForSite #ArtAboutPlace
In #AiWeiwei’s Blossom (2015), he quietly transformed the utilitarian fixtures in several Hospital ward cells and medical offices into delicate porcelain bouquets. @aiww designed intricately detailed encrustations of ceramic flowers to fill the sinks, toilets, and tubs that were once used by hospitalized prisoners. Blossom drew on and altered natural imagery as well as traditional Chinese arts. Rather than referring to national iconography, however, the flowers here carried other associations. The work could have been seen as symbolically offering comfort to the imprisoned, as one would send a bouquet to a hospitalized patient. #ForSite #ArtAboutPlace
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
In #AiWeiwei’s Blossom (2015), he quietly transformed the utilitarian fixtures in several Hospital ward cells and medical offices into delicate porcelain bouquets. @aiww designed intricately detailed encrustations of ceramic flowers to fill the sinks, toilets, and tubs that were once used by hospitalized prisoners. Blossom drew on and altered natural imagery as well as traditional Chinese arts. Rather than referring to national iconography, however, the flowers here carried other associations. The work could have been seen as symbolically offering comfort to the imprisoned, as one would send a bouquet to a hospitalized patient. #ForSite #ArtAboutPlace
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
Echoing the project's ethos of plurality, the Sanctuary (2018) Salon series - a cornerstone of the Sanctuary's public programming - wove together the voices of local artists whose practices span creative disciplines, including spoken word, music, dance, and performance.

Participating artists included: 
Jacques Ibula, Adam Bowers, Deema K. Shehabi, Lenora Lee Dance (Yi-Ting Hsu, Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Eric Koziol, and Shannon Preto), and Hope Mohr Dance with "Sanctuary" artist Ranu Mukherjee (Marlie Couto, Cylie Kindval, Hope Mohr, and Karla Quintero). Sanctuary was on view at Fort Mason Chapel from 

#FORSITE #ArtAboutPlace #Sanctuary #palastine
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
Echoing the project's ethos of plurality, the Sanctuary (2018) Salon series - a cornerstone of the Sanctuary's public programming - wove together the voices of local artists whose practices span creative disciplines, including spoken word, music, dance, and performance. Participating artists included: Jacques Ibula, Adam Bowers, Deema K. Shehabi, Lenora Lee Dance (Yi-Ting Hsu, Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Eric Koziol, and Shannon Preto), and Hope Mohr Dance with "Sanctuary" artist Ranu Mukherjee (Marlie Couto, Cylie Kindval, Hope Mohr, and Karla Quintero). Sanctuary was on view at Fort Mason Chapel from #FORSITE #ArtAboutPlace #Sanctuary #palastine
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
Long time For-Site collaborator #AndyGoldsworthy’s new permanent outdoor artwork at @yspsculpture Peter’s Fold, marks the retirement of Founding Director Sir Peter Murray CBE, who was Knighted in 2022 for his contribution to culture.

Peter’s Fold joins three other permanent sculptures by Goldsworthy that relate to the history and politics of landscape.
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
Long time For-Site collaborator #AndyGoldsworthy’s new permanent outdoor artwork at @yspsculpture Peter’s Fold, marks the retirement of Founding Director Sir Peter Murray CBE, who was Knighted in 2022 for his contribution to culture. Peter’s Fold joins three other permanent sculptures by Goldsworthy that relate to the history and politics of landscape.
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
#AiWeiwei has covered the facade of Old Québec’s Royal Battery with discarded lifejackets, used by Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe and recovered by the artist in 2016 on the Greek island of Lesbos. The installation, Life Jackets (2022) is on view in Québec City as part of the eighth edition of @lespassagesinsolites, a festival of public that seeks to offer unusual, surprising encounters in the urban experience.

Image: PUBLIC INSTALLATION, June 25 - October 10, 2022 Québec City, Canada
#AiWeiwei has covered the facade of Old Québec’s Royal Battery with discarded lifejackets, used by Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe and recovered by the artist in 2016 on the Greek island of Lesbos. The installation, Life Jackets (2022) is on view in Québec City as part of the eighth edition of @lespassagesinsolites, a festival of public that seeks to offer unusual, surprising encounters in the urban experience.

Image: PUBLIC INSTALLATION, June 25 - October 10, 2022 Québec City, Canada
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#AiWeiwei has covered the facade of Old Québec’s Royal Battery with discarded lifejackets, used by Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe and recovered by the artist in 2016 on the Greek island of Lesbos. The installation, Life Jackets (2022) is on view in Québec City as part of the eighth edition of @lespassagesinsolites, a festival of public that seeks to offer unusual, surprising encounters in the urban experience. Image: PUBLIC INSTALLATION, June 25 - October 10, 2022 Québec City, Canada
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
San Francisco–based Adam Eli Feibelman (@adam5100) includes street art and raw data as two sources of inspiration for his incredibly detailed, hand-cut, multilayered stencil work, which immerses the viewer in complex urban landscapes, and in abstract fields of repeating and braided patterns. This social and geometric intricacy is reflected and amplified by his painstaking process, which is wholly improvised rather than based on predrawn outlines or compositional guides. Spread across four panels that subtly invoke allegories represented in stained glass, Wrath of a Mother Scorned speaks to the devastation caused by California’s increasingly apocalyptic seasonal wildfires. Fiercely radiating geometric patterns puncture layers of billowing smoke, while a great spiral sweeps up and curls to form the profile of a crashing wave or a hurricane viewed from Earth’s orbit. Feibelman’s elemental references to fire, water, and air speak to the vast scale of the planet’s climate systems while clearly linking them to our firsthand experience with a local—and immediate—threat. #landsend #artaboutplace #sanfrancisco #climatechange #climatecrisis
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
San Francisco–based Adam Eli Feibelman (@adam5100) includes street art and raw data as two sources of inspiration for his incredibly detailed, hand-cut, multilayered stencil work, which immerses the viewer in complex urban landscapes, and in abstract fields of repeating and braided patterns. This social and geometric intricacy is reflected and amplified by his painstaking process, which is wholly improvised rather than based on predrawn outlines or compositional guides. Spread across four panels that subtly invoke allegories represented in stained glass, Wrath of a Mother Scorned speaks to the devastation caused by California’s increasingly apocalyptic seasonal wildfires. Fiercely radiating geometric patterns puncture layers of billowing smoke, while a great spiral sweeps up and curls to form the profile of a crashing wave or a hurricane viewed from Earth’s orbit. Feibelman’s elemental references to fire, water, and air speak to the vast scale of the planet’s climate systems while clearly linking them to our firsthand experience with a local—and immediate—threat. #landsend #artaboutplace #sanfrancisco #climatechange #climatecrisis
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
#LandsEbd featured artist @dougaitkenworkshop’s WILDERNESS streaming on @mubi!
⁠
"Characters who linger on a beach, seduced by the views of the Pacific and the rhythms of the surf. A sequence of close-ups dig into their faces, photographing their spectrum of reactions in the presence of the landscape in front of them. Long shots capture the colors of the sun among the clouds, waves and a column of smoke on the horizon. But there is nothing reassuring or idyllic about the beach on the Pacific where Doug Aitken sets his short Wilderness, conceived last April as an immersive video installation for @303gallery in New York. Nature is shown almost en passant, without giving the viewer time to dwell on the images. Aitken focuses on the ways in which his characters contemplate the landscape, rather than the landscape itself. It is a nature always mediated by the perspective of the characters who observe it, indirectly returned to the viewer through a facial expression, a movement of the eyes. A mediation that also extends to smartphone and camera technology. Carmel (Regina Hall) said in the TV series Nine Perfect Strangers that nothing "is real until you post it on social networks", summarizing one of the great contradictions of our time as the impossibility of authentic and disinterested contemplation." -on www.duels.it the complete review by Edoardo Pelligra ⁠
⁠
@303gallery @regenprojects @victoriamirogallery @galerieevapresenhuber @mubiitalia @mubifrance @mubiuk @mubibrasil @mubiusa @duels.it ⁠@inlandempire92
@mubideutschland #mubiitalia #mubifrance #mubiuk #mubibrasil #mubiusa #mubideutschland #dougaitken #contemporaryart #installationart #filmart #installationart #losangeles #venicebeach⁠ 
⁠
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#LandsEbd featured artist @dougaitkenworkshop’s WILDERNESS streaming on @mubi! ⁠ "Characters who linger on a beach, seduced by the views of the Pacific and the rhythms of the surf. A sequence of close-ups dig into their faces, photographing their spectrum of reactions in the presence of the landscape in front of them. Long shots capture the colors of the sun among the clouds, waves and a column of smoke on the horizon. But there is nothing reassuring or idyllic about the beach on the Pacific where Doug Aitken sets his short Wilderness, conceived last April as an immersive video installation for @303gallery in New York. Nature is shown almost en passant, without giving the viewer time to dwell on the images. Aitken focuses on the ways in which his characters contemplate the landscape, rather than the landscape itself. It is a nature always mediated by the perspective of the characters who observe it, indirectly returned to the viewer through a facial expression, a movement of the eyes. A mediation that also extends to smartphone and camera technology. Carmel (Regina Hall) said in the TV series Nine Perfect Strangers that nothing "is real until you post it on social networks", summarizing one of the great contradictions of our time as the impossibility of authentic and disinterested contemplation." -on www.duels.it the complete review by Edoardo Pelligra ⁠ ⁠ @303gallery @regenprojects @victoriamirogallery @galerieevapresenhuber @mubiitalia @mubifrance @mubiuk @mubibrasil @mubiusa @duels.it ⁠@inlandempire92 @mubideutschland #mubiitalia #mubifrance #mubiuk #mubibrasil #mubiusa #mubideutschland #dougaitken #contemporaryart #installationart #filmart #installationart #losangeles #venicebeach⁠ ⁠
3 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
9/9

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

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

Field Notes

  • Ai Weiwei Yours Truly Facebook Banner

    “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” Virtual Cinema Release

  • Alfredo Jaar

    Black Lives Matter

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.