ExhibitionJuly 9, 2020
The Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Bronze will be exhibited at East Hampton Sculpture Garden
LongHouse Reserve, the famed East Hampton outdoor sculpture garden, welcomes Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze, opening to the public Wednesday July 8, 2020 and on view through October 2021. The twelve monumental bronze animal heads—each approximately ten-feet tall and representing the traditional figures of the Chinese zodiac—will be installed around the perimeter of LongHouse's outdoor Albee Amphitheater.
LongHouse Reserve is one of over 45 international locations that have hosted the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze and Gold series during the last decade. The sculptures debuted at the São Paulo Biennial in 2010, and then began an international tour, arriving in the U.S. at the Pulitzer Fountain at the Grand Army Plaza in Central Park, New York in 2011.
Each of the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze sculptures ranges in weight from 1,500 to 2,100 pounds and is supported by a buried marble base weighing 600 to 1,000 pounds. They are displayed in cosmological order according to the traditional Chinese zodiac. The sculptures are re-envisioned versions of the original 18th-century heads that were designed during the Qing dynasty for the fountain clock of the Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), an imperial retreat outside Beijing.
By reinterpreting these objects in a contemporary context, Ai Weiwei stimulates dialogue about the fate of artworks that exist within the dynamic (and sometimes volatile) cultural and political settings of China and beyond. Ai is widely known for his engagement with Chinese history as a shifting site open to reevaluation rather than a static body of knowledge.
LongHouse Reserve is one of over 45 international locations that have hosted the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze and Gold series during the last decade. The sculptures debuted at the São Paulo Biennial in 2010, and then began an international tour, arriving in the U.S. at the Pulitzer Fountain at the Grand Army Plaza in Central Park, New York in 2011.
Each of the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze sculptures ranges in weight from 1,500 to 2,100 pounds and is supported by a buried marble base weighing 600 to 1,000 pounds. They are displayed in cosmological order according to the traditional Chinese zodiac. The sculptures are re-envisioned versions of the original 18th-century heads that were designed during the Qing dynasty for the fountain clock of the Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), an imperial retreat outside Beijing.
By reinterpreting these objects in a contemporary context, Ai Weiwei stimulates dialogue about the fate of artworks that exist within the dynamic (and sometimes volatile) cultural and political settings of China and beyond. Ai is widely known for his engagement with Chinese history as a shifting site open to reevaluation rather than a static body of knowledge.
