@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz

John Hill

30. September 2014

Ai Weiwei, Refraction, 2014 (installation view, New Industries Building, Alcatraz). Photo: Jan Stürmann

Alcatraz Island, site of a military fort, a federal prison, a Native American protest, and now a national park, plays host to new sculpture, sound, and mixed-media installations by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Carried out with the help of the FOR-SITE Foundation, Ai Weiwei's site-specific pieces occupy locations normally off limits to the public, including the New Industries Building and a group of cells in A Block. Given that Ai Weiwei is unable to travel outside of China, it makes sense that, "@Large turns Alcatraz into a space for dialogue about how we define liberty and justice, individual rights and personal responsibility," according to FOR-SITE. They describe the exhibition further: "In artworks that balance political impact with aesthetic grace, the exhibition directly and imaginatively addresses the situation of people around the world who have been deprived of their freedom for speaking out about their beliefs — people like Ai himself."

@Large is on display until April 26, 2015.