Around Ai Weiwei

The exhibition “Around Ai Weiwei: Photographs 1983–2016” highlights the various stages of the artist’s career as a public figure and as an icon of the Asiatic world.

The exhibition is part of the investigation process into photography undertaken by Camera, which over the year since its opening has focused its activities on the study of this language as a medium of artistic expression, of political reflection and social inclusion. Camera has systematically drawn comparisons between photography and other media as well as other artistic disciplines, highlighting its great importance in the contemporary debate and its ability to interface both with the cultural universe as a whole and with a range of audiences.

Ai Weiwei, Beijing Photographs 1993-2003, The Forbidden City during the SARS Epidemic, 2003. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio — **Top:** Ai Weiwei, *Lesvos, 27 January 2016*. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio. **Above:** Ai Weiwei, *Beijing Photographs 1993-2003, The Forbidden City during the SARS Epidemic*, 2003. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio

Along an exhibition itinerary that includes photographic and video materials, with a number of documents never seen before, Around Ai Weiwei highlights the various stages of the artistic career of Ai Weiwei – a provocative and outspoken figure – investigating not only his artistic poetics from his debut right up to the present day, but also his role in the cultural, social and political debate, both in China and throughout the world.

Ai Weiwei, *Beijing Photographs 1993-2003, Last dinner in East Village* , 1994. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio

The exhibition explores the genesis of Ai Weiwei as a public figure and as an icon of the Asiatic world, as well as stimulating a reflection on the way in which the contemporary environment has transformed him and thus pondering ‘who’ Ai Weiwei has become.

Ai Weiwei, New York Photographs 1983-1993, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1983. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, image courtesy Ai Weiwei, © Ai Weiwei — Ai Weiwei, *New York Photographs 1983-1993*, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1983. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, image courtesy Ai Weiwei, © Ai Weiwei

28 October 2016 – 12 February 2017
Around Ai Weiwei: Photographs 1983-2016
curated by Davide Quadrio
CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia
via delle Rosine 18, Torino

Around Ai Weiwei

The exhibition “Around Ai Weiwei: Photographs 1983–2016” highlights the various stages of the artist’s career as a public figure and as an icon of the Asiatic world.

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