SEATTLE ART MUSEUM MAJOR DESTINATION WITH ART ICON AI WEIWEI’S LARGEST US SHOW

SEATTLE, March 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) presents Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei (March 12–September 7, 2025), the largest-ever US exhibition of works by the globally renowned conceptual artist. Ai, Rebel surveys Ai Weiwei’s career over four decades and highlights his artistic strategies for questioning forms of power, disrupting artistic canons, and challenging political authoritarianism. This is the artist’s first US retrospective in over a decade and features 130 works from the 1980s to the 2020s.

Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957) is a celebrated artist and activist whose work examines history, society, and culture. Ai, Rebel offers the rare opportunity to engage with his wide-ranging body of work, including black-and-white photographs, LEGO and toy brick works, large-scale installations, and videos. It features iconic works such as Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995), Study of Perspective (1995–2011), Sunflower Seeds (2010), and Illumination (2019), as well as several works making their international debut. Curated by FOONG Ping, Foster Foundation Curator of Chinese Art, the exhibition is organized in roughly chronological order, with three thematic sections exploring Ai’s practice: Introducing the Rebel, Material Disruptions, and Watching Ai Watching Power.

“SAM is thrilled to share this visually spectacular retrospective, which explores how Ai Weiwei has been making an impact with his art and activism around the world,” says Scott Stulen, SAM’s Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO. “This could not be a more timely and urgent exhibition, as Ai’s work implores us to consider the role of art and artists to question authority, galvanize change, and stand for free expression.”

For the first time, SAM is presenting the work of one artist at all three of its locations simultaneously. In addition to the major retrospective at the downtown location, the Seattle Asian Art Museum presents Ai Weiwei: Water Lilies (March 19, 2025–March 15, 2026), a reinterpretation in LEGOs of one of Claude Monet’s famed water lilies paintings. The Olympic Sculpture Park presents Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) (summer 2025–May 17, 2027), a circle of 12 monumental bronze sculptures. This offers a unique opportunity to engage deeply with Ai Weiwei’s work in different contexts across Seattle.

Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei is organized by the Seattle Art Museum, the leading visual art institution in the Pacific Northwest.

Media Contact
Rachel Eggers, Seattle Art Museum
[email protected] 

SOURCE Seattle Art Museum