Friday, May 6, 2011

Ai WeiWei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Only Silence by Those Supporting the Repatriation of the Originals

Jailed Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei's exhibition of animal heads has finally opened in New York. See http://www.zodiacheads.com/?page_id=17

One would think that archaeological advocacy groups like Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE) would publicise the exhibit, which is inspired by sculptures that were taken from the famous Yuanming Yuan (Summer Palace) in the aftermath of the Opium Wars. After all, SAFE and others have loudly supported the repatriation of the originals and other artifacts from the Summer Palace back to China. See
http://safecorner.savingantiquities.org/search/label/Yuanmingyuan

But nothing but silence.....

One wonders if there is a concern that publicising this exhibit by a dissident artist would be bad for archaeological business in China.
at

1 comment:

  1. Larry RothfieldMay 21, 2011 at 9:17 PM

    I do not know what SAFE's position is, but it might be the case that they are unhappy about Ai Weiwei's photographing himself in slow motion destroying a rare ancient vase.

    ReplyDelete

Henceforth, comments will only be posted from those who provide a full name, country of residence and basis for interest, i.e., collector, archaeologist, academic, etc. or their Blogger profile provides such information.