Ai Weiwei’s Fairytale: a unique social engagement

Abstract

Art as a social engagement in the West can be dated back to the history of avant-garde art starting from the end of nineteenth century. Rooted in his own cultural background, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s socially engaged art project “Fairytale is more complex than the avant-garde strategy. The work Fairytale established a structure – “1=1,001”. That means on the one hand, the participants can be easily regarded everywhere in Kassel as 1,001 mobile works of art. All of them contribute to an entire work. In other words, the 1,001 people consist of one work. On the other hand, everyone is dealing with their personal issues independent of art. In this sense, the entire work can be divided into 1,001 personal experiences. This structure is based on three principles of Chinese philosophy Taoism – the duality between Yin and Yang, the dynamism between Yin and Yang, and the concept of “uselessness”. Positioning Fairytale within both Western theoretical as well as Chinese philosophical contexts, this essay is to analyze how Chinese philosophy shaped Ai’s strategy of social engagement and his cultural identity – Chineseness.

Keywords:

• Social engagement
• 1=1,001
• Taosim
• Chineseness

Notes

1. ‘Socially engaged art’ refers to the artwork that is interactive and participatory. See Claire Bishop, Participation, London: White chapel; Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.

2. In the following text, the author will elaborate on the details of how socially engaged art is discussed in Western theoretical contexts, by introducing several ideas such as ‘relational aesthetics’ and ‘social sculpture’.

3. Taoism, or Daoism, is a philosophical, ethical, and religious tradition of Chinese origin that emphasises living in harmony with the Tao (also romanised as Dao). The term Tao means ‘way’, ‘path’ or ‘principle’. Tao Te Ching(道德经), a book containing teachings attributed to Laozi(老子), is widely considered its keystone work. The principles of Taoism will be examined in detail in the following text.

4. Suzanne Lacy’s concept of ‘new genre public art’ can be seen in her monograph: Mapping the Tterrain: New Genre Public Art, Seattle, Wash: Bay Press, 1995. The relevant artistic practices are clearly demonstrated in the 1992 exhibition – ‘Culture in Action’ in Chicago. An in-depth analysis of this exhibition can also be seen in Miwon Kwon’s article: Miwon Kwon, ‘From site to community in new genre public art: The case of “Culture in Action”’, One place after another: Site specificity of locational identity, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, c2002. p. 112.

5. Tai Shi Yi (太师椅), a type of chair populated in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. The chairs in Fairytale are copied from the version of the Qing Dynasty. See Birnbaum and Buergel, Ai Weiwei: Fairytale: A Reader, 36, pp. 38–39.

6. These names were obtained from a list produced in Citizen Investigation project. See Zheng, ‘The Pursuit of Publicness’, p. 23.

7. See also Zhao Chengshuai, ‘Zhuan Fang Ai: zai boyisi yu wo huoer zhijian’ (Interview Ai Weiwei: Between Any Warhol and Joseph Beuys), WWW.99.COM, accessed Sep 17, 2013, http://news3.99ys.com/20130917/article--130917--142099_1.shtml.

8. ‘Encounter’ is a term used by Nicolas Bourriaud for interpreting human’s relationship.

9. This term was initially used by Karl Marx to describe trading communities that elude the capitalist economic context by being removed from the law of profit: barter, merchandising, autarkic types of production, etc. See Claire Bishop, ‘Art of the Encounter: Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics’, ca., No. 114 (Winter, 2005), pp. 32–35.

10. As Bourriaud’s book Relational Aesthetics has been translated in Chinese since last year (2013), theoretical research related to this theory is so limited in China that artist, like Ai Weiwei, are not aware of it.

11. See ‘Fairytale’ documentary film.

12. Yin and Yang is the basic opposite elements in Taoist philosophy. See Holmes Welch, Taoism: The Parting of The Way, Boston, Mass: Beacon Press, 1966.

13. See the documentary film of Fairytale. ‘Fairytale’, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dIiVfgt-I.