Ai Weiwei & Serge Spitzer

Ai Weiwei b. 1957, Beijing, China. Lives and works in Beijing, China. Serge Spitzer b. 1951, Bucharest, Romania. d. 2012, New York, USA

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Ai Weiwei & Serge Spitzer
Ai Weiwei & Serge Spitzer, Ghost Gu Coming Down the Mountain 2005

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These 96 modern Chinese porcelain vases have been made in the likeness of an important work from the Yuan Period (1269—1368). Each one bears a reproduction of a unique section of the original image, in traditional blue glaze. When viewed from certain angles, the vases appear to be blank. Hints of further decoration invite the viewer to move around and explore the spatial dimensions of the installation. By repeating the vases and arranging them in a grid, the artists allude to mechanical reproduction and Modernist ways of ordering the world, which contrast with the traditional appearance of the vases and the fantasies of history that they may conjure up.