Ai Weiwei at Cycladic

The Museum of Cycladic Art introduces Ai’s practice to the Greek audience through a broad selection of his work and his most recent activities documenting the refugee crisis.

The Museum of Cycladic Art (MCA) in Athens presents “Ai Weiwei at Cycladic”, the artist’s first major exhibition in Greece which includes a new artwork responding to the museum’s collection narrative, curated by Michael Frahm. 

Top: Ai Weiwei, Divina Proportione, huali wood, ©Museum of Cycladic Art, 2012. Above: Standing Figure, marble, 2016

This is the artist’s first exhibition in an archaeological museum and some of his significant works are displayed among the museum’s renowned permanent collection. The exhibition looks at his recurring use of particular materials which draw parallels with Greek counterparts, such as wood and marble. In a personal interpretation of Cycladic art, Ai Weiwei has augmented the scale, thus transforming the modest Cycladic figurine into a towering deity.

Ai Weiwei, Tyre, marble, ©Museum of Cycladic Art, 2016

The exhibition also introduces Ai’s practice to the Greek audience through some of his most canonical works and highlights his most recent activities from the past months that he has spent in Greece documenting the refugee crisis.

Ai Weiwei, ©Museum of Cycladic Art, 2016