If you have lost a bit of hope in the world lately you might want to stop by the Seattle Art Museum and take in the new Ai, Rebel art exhibit that will be in town from March 12-September 7, 2025. I had a peek at the press preview the other day and this felt like the most exciting art exhibition we’ve had in our city since maybe Yves St Laurent. The press room was buzzing and there were reporters from all over the country and even Canada. I remember seeing Bang by Ai Weiwei at Vancouver Art Gallery years ago with my guys (I’m still looking for the pics) because his art is so visually stunning and there are some works from this exhibit, this largest-ever showing of his work in the United States, that I know some of us will be thinking about for a while too. Ai Wei Wei is a Chinese artist and activist based in Portugal who lived in the USA from 1981-1993 and this exhibit is a play on the artist’s name as well as Isaac Asimov’s book I, Robot.
While I am excited to take my teenagers (I am quite okay with art expression) I should disclose that there is profanity in this exhibit just in case that’s something that might surprise you when you get there. You are instantly greeted and flipped off at the same time under a giant sign reading F***. But there is so much more to this exhibition than what you see on the surface. There is humor and there is so much word play. And it also feels like an invitation to think and wonder and maybe try to make sense of the world we are living through.
I also need you to know there is a chair sculpture that looks so inviting that you might want to try it but don’t sit in it, because it is art and not an actual seat. (If you have ever seen those people wrecking precious museum artifact videos I can only imagine how this one will play out. And if I was not in a group of journalists that were respectfully walking near the chair, I might have headed over to try to sit in it too.)
FOONG Ping, SAM’s Foster Foundation Curator of Chinese Art led the tour for the media preview and as someone who doesn’t know a ton about art I appreciate learning about art this way. During the Ai Wei Wei exhibition there seem to be one hour docent led guided tours daily through April that you might want to check out if you like learning this way too. I need to go back and read all the captions but I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of the exhibition without having someone explain the significance of some of the art pieces to me. Make sure you pick up the free printed guide too, it’s really well put together and it feels like it might be for kids, but it’s actually all-ages and helps you tour the six key works presented in the downtown Seattle Art Museum exhibition. There is also an exclusive Audio guide too that you can access via listening stages and your smartphone.
The cool thing about this art exhibition is that it isn’t just at the downtown Seattle Art Museum. Ai Weiwei: Water Lilies will be at the Seattle Asian Art Museum from March 19, 2025–March 15, 2026, and it is a reinterpretationof one of Claude Monet’s water lilies paintings created with LEGO. Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) will be at the Olympic Sculpture Park from May 17, 2025–May 17, 2027 and I’m looking forward to checking this work out on upcoming bike rides this summer (we often ride between the beach at Expedia Group and the Olympic Sculpture Park) I like that the works at the Sculpture Park will be there for two years!
My first look was almost overwhelming being in such a group of art aficionados. And in a group like this it’s easy to get distracted by all the fashion too ( I noticed someone’s jacket with gorgeous embroidery and I was told it was done by a local artist Chainstitch Massacre who just opened shop in Pioneer Square) and also a few pairs of really gorgeous shoes. I am a Seattle Art Museum member so I’ll definitely be back and will update more on Ai Wei Wei’s actual art works but hopefully you’ll have gone by then as well.
Also, did you know that Seattle Art Museum is in three locations (including the downtown museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum and Olympic Sculpture Park?). I think we’re pretty lucky in our city to have so much dedication to art and it’s an even more compelling reason to become a museum member too.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
One thought on “Ai, Rebel : The art and activism of Ai Weiwei at Seattle Art Museum”
Comments are closed.