The Art Newspaper

Big bubbles are no trouble for Ai Weiwei

By Gareth Harris | From Art Basel Miami Beach daily edition, 3 Dec 08
Published online 3 Dec 08

The most dramatic Art Projects public art piece at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach can be found on Watson Island (888 MacArthur Causeway) where leading Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has installed 100 glistening ceramic blue bubbles across a 600 sq. m area (Bubble, 2008). The work took two years to create. “The individual porcelain pieces reflect the city lights and the water…Maybe the installation should rather be read as a metaphor for speculative bubbles of all kinds,” said a spokeswoman for Galerie Urs Meile (N23). “Porcelain is always thought of as a craft material,” Ai Weiwei told The Art Newspaper, “but this work gives it a new, contemporary vocabulary. It can survive in any condition—as long as nobody puts a hammer to it!” The 100 “bubbles” are priced at $30,000 each; no sales had been made as we went to press. The artist is also showing Cube Light at Art Nova (Meile, N23).

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