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09-28-15

Beyond Alcatraz: @Large One Year Later

Cell Block A, Alcatraz; photo: Jan Stürmann

Cell Block A, Alcatraz; photo: Jan Stürmann

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the opening of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Since the opening, Ai has regained his right to travel freely following the return of his passport by Chinese authorities on July 22, 2105. As well, we are happy to report that 26 prisoners of conscience who were featured in Ai’s iconic work Trace have officially been released from prison:

Azerbaijan
Bakhtiyar Guliyev
Bakhtiyar Mammadov
Dashgin Melikov
Uzeyir Mammadli

Belarus
Ales Bialiatski
Mikola Statkevich

Burma
Dr. Tun Aung  

Cameroon
Dieudonné Enoh Meyomesse

China
Runggye Adak (Adak is a Tibetan citizen)
Tashi Rabten (Rabten is a Tibetan citizen)
Gao Zhiseng (Zhiseng is currently under house arrest)

Cuba
Iván Fernández Depestre

Ethiopia
Reeyot Alemu

Iran
Bahman Ahmadi Amouee
Keyvan Samimi

Kazakhstan
Roza Tuletaeva

Russia
Yaroslav Belousov
Artiom Saviolov

Rwanda
Agnes Uwimana Nkusi

United States
Shakir Hamoodi
John Kiriakou

Vietnam
Nguyen Van Hai
Do Thi Minh Hanh
Lê Quốc Quân
Nguyen Xuan Nghia
Le Thanh Tung

Tibetan prisoner of conscience Tenzin Delek Rinpoche died while incarcerated in a Chinese prison in Changdu, Sichuan Province in July 2015. Tibetans demanded the return of his body to give him the traditional Buddhist final rites, a right provided by the Chinese constitution. However, Chinese prison authorities secretly cremated Rinpoche’s body. Shortly thereafter, while his relatives were carrying Rinpoche’s ashes to his hometown, Chinese police stopped them and forcibly seized his remains.

Indonesian prisoner of conscience Filep Karma was offered a release from prison in August 2015, but he has refused the offer of remission. He has called for an unconditional release, which includes the revocation of the charge of treason against him.

In a recent development, prisoner of conscience Shaker Aamer is scheduled to be released from the detention center at Guantanamo as early as October 25, 2015. A Saudi citizen and British legal resident, Aamer was originally suspected of leading anti-US forces in Afghanistan while being paid by Osama bin Laden. He has been detained and held without charge since 2001. He was cleared for release by the Bush administration in 2007 and by the Obama administration in 2009, but remains in detention in Guantánamo. He has testified that he has been subject to torture.

While we are very encouraged by the release of many prisoners of conscience, 141 individuals featured in Trace—as well as untold numbers of other people around the world—remain incarcerated for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.

@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Ai Weiwei

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  • It’s Day 6 of FOR-SITE’s 5-year “Tree Fall” anniversary and we’re back to the clay! Remember the clay chips we talked about on Day 3? Those were added to a clay pug mill along with water and the prepared hair and mixed to create the clay used for the surface level. Exact measurements of each component were necessary to ensure uniformity in each round of clay. Once the clay was out of the pug mill, it was rolled into uniform patties of approximately 1 – 1.5” thick. (Shout-out to our amazing program director, @jaxvontreskow, working that slab roller in the third photo!) #ArtAboutPlace
  • We’re taking a brief departure from clay for Day 5 of our 5-year “Tree Fall” anniversary to talk about the hair component of the sculpture. What’s that you say? HAIR component?! It’s true—hair is the surprising “ingredient” of “Tree Fall” (or, perhaps not so surprising if you’re familiar with the process of making adobe bricks; the hair—human, horse, or otherwise—provides additional strength to the clay). The human hair used in “Tree Fall” was sourced from @edosalonandgallery. Once amassed, our incredible volunteers sorted, combed, and cut the hair into 1” pieces. #ArtAboutPlace
  • Day 4 of our 5-year “Tree Fall” anniversary has us back with the clay slip. As explained yesterday, some of the slip was used to make clay chips. Slip was also used for mixing with hay (a process that was surprisingly painful, as our comm. & dev. manager @a_m_konecki can attest to—she really should have worn gloves!). The resulting slip-soaked hay mixture formed the base layer of the sculpture, and was woven into the steel caging and the tree by hand by Goldsworthy and his team. This base provided texture crucial for enabling the smoother, outer layer of clay to adhere. #ArtAboutPlace
  • For Day 3 of our 5-year “Tree Fall” anniversary we’re picking up where we left off in the clay processing yesterday. After screening, the resulting slip was poured into drying beds created from plastic sheeting bolstered by wooden planks. The slip was then left to dry and crack in the sun. Simple enough, except we all know how rare full, warm sun is in San Francisco summertime with #karlthefog ☁️always lurking about (particularly in @presidiosf). Although we did get a few clear, sunny days, we often needed backup from large industrial fans. When at last the clay was sufficiently dry, the chips were then harvested by hand. (Shout-out to our executive director @cheryllhaines gathering those chips in photo 4!) #ArtAboutPlace

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