Ai Weiwei's @LARGE

As you may well know, Chinese contemporary conceptual artist and activist Ai Weiwei's @LARGE has been on view at Alcatraz in San Francisco for the last several months.  Finally, after many trials and tribulations, I made it to the exhibit this weekend.  And let me tell you, it was incredible.

@LARGE plays on the dynamics between the somber, oppressive architecture of the decaying penitentiary and the bright, often delicate sculptures of the installation.  Ai Weiwei also layers symbolism and real, consciousness raising stories of those who have been imprisoned for their beliefs and their expression of those beliefs.

Detail of With Wind.

The first part of the exhibit that I experienced was in the New Industries Building, titled With Wind.  The first thing you encounter is this magnificent, bright, joyful Chinese dragon that floats through the large room.  Each part of the body is painted, with sections quoting words about freedom throughout.  Normally a signal of imperial power, here the dragon represents the forceful, exuberant will of the prisoner to be free.  On an even larger level, the dragon seems to represent humanity's perseverance and will to obtain and keep liberty.

Detail of With Wind.

Scattered throughout the room are smaller bird and flower themed kites, representing countries that restrict their citizens' liberties.  If you look closely,  there is a theme of chains on the kite pictured below, and on the wings, a subtle pattern of handcuffs.  These birds and flowers also relate back to the setting of the installation.  Alcatraz is well-known as a bird habitat and has lush gardens on its rocky exterior.  Ai Weiwei seems to use flowers and birds in this exhibit as symbols to juxtapose freedom and hope with captivity.  This idea is expanded on even more by the sunlight that streams through the barred windows, bathing the kites in brightness.

Detail of With Wind.

Leaving the room that With Wind is installed in, you immediately encounter Trace.  Trace features portraits of people that have been imprisoned for their beliefs, or frankly, just because their country felt like it.  The piece is entirely constructed from Legos and in person the dimensions of the portraits are fascinating.  There is a sense created by the Legos that even though these individuals are the ones being imprisoned, we all share in these incarcerations.  One representing many or many representing one.  It reminds me of the quote by Ai Weiwei from With Wind, above, about all of us being potential prisoners.  In books on podiums, the portraits are listed with their 'crimes', punishments, and beliefs.  

One of the most interesting things about this installation that I found was that it is so much easier to condemn other countries and their arresting policies.  Whether it's a sense of shame or self-preservation it's much more difficult to acknowledge things about your own country than a country a world away.  And I think that this is part of Ai Weiwei's point in Trace.  He's not only raising awareness about civil liberties in non-American countries, but he asks us to re-evaluate and question our own systems.

Trace.

 Though I saw pictures of and read about Refraction, the last installation in the New Industries Building, I was not able to physically experience it myself.  It was not disability accessible, but the people I went with assured me that it was amazing and that the installation truly resembled a trapped animal, like the prisoners may have seemed to the guards in their position of power.  I also understand that the piece represents the tensions between China and Tibet, which I find very compelling.

Blossom.

In the hospital of the prison, there were two installations:  Blossom, sculptures that overtook spaces in bathtubs, toilets and sinks in the hospital rooms, and Illumination, an audio experience in the psychiatric observation rooms.

In Blossom, small, delicate, porcelain sculptures of blossoms overflow in the utilities of the hospital rooms.  Similar to With Wind, the blossoms seem to represent hope flooding out of the pipes and crevices of the hospital.  Also similar to With Wind, Blossom draws from floral and Chinese imagery, repeating the themes started in the first installation.

According to the exhibition catalog, Blossom could symbolize giving comfort to the prisoners through 'bouquets'.  It could also bare reference to China's brief Hundred Flower Campaign from the 1950's which promised tolerance of expression.

Detail of Blossom.

In Illumination you step into these small rooms with glass bricks on the back wall.  All around you, you hear the chants of Tibetan monks and Native American tribes.  It is powerful to stand in those small cubicles and have those vocals all around you, especially with China's past with Tibet and Alcatraz's famous conflict with Native Americans.  By putting these voices in the psychiatric observation rooms, Ai Weiwei seems to be drawing a line between ableism and the dismissal of people with mental illness and the oppression of Native Americans and the Tibetan people.

Stay Tuned is installed in cell block A.  The cells are small, and in the middle of each one is a stool.  When you sit on the stool you are surrounded by the voice or music of a prisoner detained for artistic expression.  I sat in the cell designated for Ahmed Shamlu, a Persian writer, and as he read the poem, In This Dead-End Street, it was like his voice was seeping from the walls. Across from the cell, an English translation of the poem is hung on the wall.  "They remove smiles from lips, and songs from mouths, by surgery.  Happiness must be hidden at home in the closet," it reads.

Me, listening to the voice of Ahmed Shamlu, Stay Tuned.

The last portion of the exhibit was Yours Truly in the dining hall of the prison.  Yours Truly is an opportunity to write post cards to individual prisoners.  It allows the attendees to participate in what Ai Weiwei has been building in the viewers throughout the exhibit.  The post cards are designed with birds and flowers, the motif continuing to even this last stop.

@LARGE is truly an incredible experience to partake in.  It will be on view at Alcatraz until April 26th.