Haines Gallery: Ai Weiwei: Making Sense The Design Museum, London, UK April 7 - July 30, 2023

Courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio Ai Weiwei: Making Sense The Design Museum, London, UK April 7 - July 30, 2023 Opening at The Design Museum in London, Ai Weiwei: Making Sense features some of the Chinese artist-activist's most important works, displayed alongside new commissions made for the exhibition and objects drawn from the artist's personal collection. Developed in collaboration with the artist, Making Sense presents Ai's work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values. Through his engagement with material culture, Ai explores the tension between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction. The exhibition draws on Ai's fascination with historical Chinese artefacts, placing their traditional craftsmanship in dialogue with the more recent history of demolition and urban development in China. The result is a meditation on value—on histories and skills that have been ignored or erased. Visit the Exhibition Artist Talk: An Evening with Ai Weiwei Thursday, April 6 at 7pm Join Ai Weiwei in conversation with Justin McGuirk, chief curator of the Design Museum. Their discussion will explore design as a language that communicates across time periods, the ways objects are a form of evidence, the ethics of handmade things, and how Ai's obsessive collecting of historical artefacts has shaped his thinking about design, making and his homeland, China. Learn More Related Press "From a marble toilet roll to a giant LEGO structure: Ai Weiwei's new London show looks at the value of objects," Gareth Harris, The Art Newspaper "Ai Weiwei at the Design Museum: a snapshot of design history across eight millennia," TF Chan, Wallpaper HAINES 2 Marina Boulevard, Building C, First Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123 GALLERY HOURS Tuesday - Saturday: 10:30am - 5:30pm  ‌  ‌