Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads

Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is an exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum that is open from January 24 - May 1, 2016.  Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and political activist.  The artwork featured in this exhibition includes bronze sculptures of the twelve animals from the Chinese zodiac, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar.  The heads of each of the animals rise out of bronze posts and are arranged in an arc.  The layout of the exhibition is simple yet the colossal size and arrangement of the sculptures make a strong visual statement.  Each sculpture is about ten feet tall and weighs 1,600 pounds.  Up close, the heads are even more impressive as they tower over the viewer.  I thought it was interesting to see the level of detail that went into the creation of these monumental sculptures; some parts of the animal heads are smooth, while others have a wide range of incised markings.
  
Central to Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is Ai's political statement.  All of the zodiac heads are oversize replicas of the twelve zodiac heads that once adorned a fountain-clock in the gardens of Yuanming Yuan, an imperial retreat in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty.  In 1860, the heads were taken from the retreat by the invading British and French troops during the Opium Wars.  Today, several of the heads have shown up in auction houses and five of the original twelve have not been located.  Protesters frequently show up at these protests, demanding that the heads be repatriated to China.

Ai's Circle of Animals not only prompts a dialog about art ownership but also addresses concepts of authorship and what is "original" and what is a "copy."  Although Ai based the sculptures off of the "original" sculptures from Yuanming Yuan, which were designed by European Jesuits when they served in the Qing imperial court in the eighteenth century, they differ in size and composition (the heads from Yuanming Yuan were smaller and attached to seated bodies so the overall appearance of each sculpture was more figurative).  Another difference between Ai's sculptures and the originals is that even though both are now politicized, Ai clearly had a political concept of repatriation in mind when creating his versions, while the originals were only politicized later after they were pillaged. 

In Circle of Animals, authorship is related not only to precedents (the European Jesuits) but also the number of people who contributed to the creative process.  Although Ai is credited with creating the sculptures in Circle of Animals, the actual fabrication process of the heads involved numerous artists and individuals.  However, this approach to creating art has been common throughout history, where one artist might direct other artists in a "workshop" setting (the zodiac heads at Yuanming Yuan were most likely created by an entire team as well). Overall, the bronze sculptures in Circle of Animals are a technical marvel and prompt important discussions about repatriation, ownership, originality, and authorship.

An illustration of the original zodiac sculptures at Yuanming Yuan that flank either side of the fountain's center.

 

 Ai Weiwei, twelve bronze sculptures in Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.  The sculptures were made in 2010.

Another view of the bronze sculptures.

  

A closer view of the horse sculpture.

A video featuring Ai and Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.