Opening at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 4, 2016, this major international exhibition will feature two significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries: Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei. The exhibit will explore the significant influence of these two artists on modern and contemporary life, focusing on the parallels, intersections and points of difference between their practices, being, Warhol representing 20th-century modernity and the “American century,” and Ai representing life in the 21st century and what has been called the “Chinese century” to come.
“This project is perhaps the most important exhibition The Warhol has ever taken on. No two artists changed or in the case of Ai Weiwei, is changing the very fabric of his time and place more than Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei,” says the Warhol’s Director Eric Shiner. “Both artists call into question what art can and should be, and both overcame nearly invincible odds to rise to the top of the art world thanks to their creative rebellion. We are honored to bring them together here in Pittsburgh.”
In other related events, which are:
On Thursday, June 2, In Discussion: Ai Weiwei and Eric Shiner at 8:00 pm;
On Friday, June 3, Free Community Day & Public Opening: Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei; from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm;
Also on Friday, June 3 and running through August 28, 2016, a Film Screening: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry at 2:00 pm.
On Friday, June 17, 2016, In Discussion: Alison Klayman, Director and Producer of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry at 7:00 pm.
And in conjunction with Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei at The Warhol, Ai’s Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (2011) is on display at Carnegie Museum of Art in the Hall of Architecture on Saturday, May 28 through August 29, 2016.
The artwork is made up of 12 bronze animal heads representing the traditional Chinese zodiac that once adorned the famed fountain-clock of Yuanming Yuan, an imperial retreat in Beijing destroyed by the British in 1860. The artwork is a reproduction reflecting on the original looted artworks.
On view through August 28, 2016, see: www.warhol.org for more information.