“Remembering” d’Ai Weiwei (2009)

Le meilleur moyen de venir en aide à Ai Weiwei, artiste internationalement reconnu qui vient d’être arrêté à Pékin, c’est de montrer son œuvre. Ici l’installation Remembering, présentée à Munich en Allemagne en 2009, qui vient en écho au séisme de mai 2008 dans la province du Sichuan et se pose comme une violente critique des autorités chinoises.

“The idea to use backpacks came from my visit to Sichuan after the earthquake in May 2008. During the earthquake many schools collapsed. Thousands of young students lost their lives, and you could see bags and study material everywhere. Then you realize individual life, media, and the lives of the students are serving very different purposes. The lives of the students disappeared within the state propaganda, and very soon everybody will forget everything.”

Ai Weiwei

 “After the government refused to give an exact account of events, or even the names of the children who died in the Sichuan earthquake, with the help of volunteers Ai Weiwei posted names on his internet blog. The 9,000 children’s backpacks on the Haus der Kunst’s façade spell out the sentence She lived happily for seven years in this world in Chinese characters, a quote by one of the victim’s mothers. Remembering will become slowly visible as the trees in front of the Haus der Kunst lose their leaves in the autumn and winter months, as such time goes by and memories grow.”

Quotes from the catalog “so sorry”, Ai Weiwei, Munich, Haus der Kunst

L’image du haut et les commentaires viennent du site Point of view, celle du milieu d’ici et les deux du bas de là.