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XXL
XXL books are a minimum 39 cm (15.4 in.)

Ai Weiwei

4500

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Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)
Each edition is signed by the artist and wrapped in a silk scarf reproduction of Ai Weiwei’s work Straight, a reference to the Sichuan earthquake of 2008. This comprehensive book was made in close collaboration with Ai Weiwei and features paper cut chapter openers designed by the artist, numerous previously unseen images from his archive, as well as statements on his work from exclusive interviews.

Collector’s Edition (No. 101–1,100), each signed by Ai Weiwei and wrapped in a silk scarf
Edition of 1,000Hardcover, clothbound, wrapped in a silk scarf, 13.0 x 17.3 in., 22.86 lb, 724 pages

“A landmark monograph for sure.”

Paris Match

“The first comprehensive monograph on the life and work of Ai Weiwei.”

ARTNews
Sold Out
Please check with your nearest TASCHEN store just in case
XXL
XXL books are a minimum 39 cm (15.4 in.)
Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei

4500
Living Art on the Edge
The comprehensive story of Ai Weiwei’s life and work
Today Ai Weiwei enjoys a reputation far beyond the art world. While his vast social or performance-based interventions and appropriated object-based artworks have secured his place as one of the world’s leading conceptual artists, Ai is equally known as a social media phenomenon, a political activist, and an outspoken champion of free expression in his native China, where he earnt an 81-day police detention in 2011.

This book, signed by the artist, is the first comprehensive monograph on Ai Weiwei’s life and work. Compiled in close collaboration with Ai and with direct access to his own archives, it explores the artist's particular brand of expression and activism over more than 700 pages of images and text.

Features:
  • Many previously unseen images, from photos taken during Ai’s time in New York to production shots of large installations in the workshop and pictures from his studio.
  • Essays from Uli Sigg, Ai’s long-time friend and former Swiss ambassador to China; Roger M. Buergel, who curated the 2007 Documenta and hosted the artist’s Fairytale piece; and experts on Chinese culture and politics, Carlos Rojas, William A. Callahan, and James J. Lally.
  • Numerous statements derived from exclusive interviews with Ai Weiwei, conducted especially for this publication.
  • Full-page chapter openers designed by the artist in traditional paper-cut style.
  • The volume is wrapped in a silk scarf (110 cm x 100 cm, Habotai silk), based on a detail from Ai’s work Straight, a reference to the Sichuan earthquake of 2008.


Collector’s Edition (No. 101–1,100), each signed by Ai Weiwei and wrapped in a silk scarf. Also available as an Art Edition (No. 1-100) with a marble bookstand.
The artist

Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei is renowned for making strong aesthetic statements that resonate across today’s geopolitical world. From architecture to sculpture and installations, social media to documentaries, he uses a wide range of media for new ways of artistically examining society and its values. He is the recipient of the 2015 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation. Ai’s first feature-length documentary Human Flow premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival in competition. He currently lives and works in Cambridge, Berlin, and Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal.

The editor

Hans Werner Holzwarth is a book designer and editor specializing in contemporary art and photography. His TASCHEN publications include the Collector’s Editions Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen, Neo Rauch, Ai Weiwei, Beatriz Milhazes, Julian Schnabel, Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, the David Hockney SUMO A Bigger Book, as well as monographs such as the XXL-sized Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Ai Weiwei
Edition of 1,000Hardcover, clothbound, wrapped in a silk scarf, 33 x 44 cm, 10.37 kg, 724 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-4659-1

Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)
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