Through the addition of a strategically placed aperture, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei transformed a classical Chinese vessel type into a living environment for the Western Screech-Owl. These elegant and purposefully ornamental habitats evoked a range of associations—the Presidio’s Pacific Rim orientation, San Francisco’s Chinese heritage, and the transmission and transformation of culture through trade.
- Installation Views
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei, Western Screech Owl Habitats, 2010 (installation view); photo: Monique Deschaines
Ai Weiwei is a Beijing-based artist and activist whose work encompasses sculpture, installation, photography, film, architecture, curation, and social criticism. His art has been featured in major solo exhibitions including Ai Weiwei at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, UK, 2014; Evidence at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 2014; and Ai Weiwei: According to What?, which was organized by the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, in 2009, and traveled to North American venues in 2013–14. Ai collaborated with architects Herzog & de Meuron on the “bird’s nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2015.