Ai Wei Wei, Disposition (Giudecca & San'Antonin, Venice, 2013)

This Exhibition was quite a surprise, during the frame of the Venice Biennale 2013. Hidden in the san Antonin Church at the heart of Venice was one part of the Exhibition and the other was located at Zuecca Project Space venue in La Zitelle, however I could only see the first location, which I am sharing with you.

This part of the project called S.A.C.R.E.D, was specifically conceives for that space in particular which makes the work more coherent and more aware of the context that surrounds it. Ai Wei Wei was imprisioned for 81 days in 2011. In this work (S upper. A ccusers. C leansing. R itual. E ntropy. D oubt, Ai reenacts scenes from his time in isolation where he was under extreme vigilance 24/7, and under continuous interrogation, he does so by using dioramas like the ones you would see at a natural history museum.

 From the outside the Dioramas look like big blocks of metal with small closed doors and some small windows. The viewer necessarily has to get close to the work and interact with it to relate to the scene that is going on in the inside, just as outsiders, there is nothing to do about it rather than be a voyeur, but this time a voyeur of one intimate story, reconstructed by memory, a story of injustice, oppression and a man fighting for transparency and freedom of speech.

Exhibition will be in display until the 15 of September 2013