Alcatraz Island
September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015
If you have read this blog often you will know that I am a huge Ai Weiwei fan. I finally had the opportunity to visit the installation of his work on Alcatraz Island, and walked away as impressed as ever. There is so much that has been written on this exhibit that I am going to simply show you a few photos with explanations and encourage you to catch it before it leaves.
Notice the “Twitter Birds” as eyes. This is to represent Ai WeiWei’s motto: “Don’t retreat – ReTweet”.
The exhibit is found in many different areas, and I do not recommend attempting to do both the exhibit and a visit to see Alcatraz, you won’t have enough time to do them both adequately.
We began in The New Industries Building. You are greeted with the mouth of a hand painted/paper dragon that is simply huge.
This portion is titled With Wind, and its placement is, like all the pieces in the exhibit, part of the message. This particular building housed “privileged” prisoners who were offered the opportunity to work as a reward for good behavior. Work offered an escape from boredom and isolation, and it could earn prisoners a shorter sentence. Placing the dragon here shows the contracdition between freedom and restriction.
Everyone of Us is a Potential Convict – Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei has said that for him, the dragon represents not imperial authority, but personal freedom: “everybody has this power.” The individual kites that make up the dragon’s body carry quotations from activists who have been imprisoned or exiled, including Nelson Mandela, Edward Snowden, and Ai Weiwei himself.
Privacy is a Function of Liberty – Edward Snowden
Around the room are kites decorated with stylized renderings of birds and flowers. These natural forms are meant to allude to a stark human reality.
It is also important to note that the birds are a reflection of the fact that Alcatraz Island is a bird sanctuary, and if you take the time to watch the video you will learn that the installation of the exhibit was during Cormorant mating season, making it all that much more difficult.
Our March to Freedom is Irreversible – Nelson Mandela
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The exhibit is a collaboration between For-Site, the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Park Conservancy.
For many the juxtaposition of Edward Snowden and Nelson Mandela can be jarring, this site is about Art, not politics, I will leave you to have those conversations elsewhere.