After a five year wait, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, in the US, will showcase Ai Weiwei’s 2010 sculpture project Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.
The Pittsburgh museum first entered into talks with Ai back in 2011, but discussions were cut short due to his detainment by Chinese officials.
After travelling around other US cities over the past five years, Ai’s piece – his first major public sculpture project – will make its public debut at Carnegie on Saturday.
The animals represent “objects of power” and relate to issues such as Chinese nationalism and cultural looting.
Detention of staffer
The news came amid controversy in Europe after a member of Ai’s team was detained by Greek police during the evacuation of the Idomeni refugee camp on its border with Macedonia. Lu Hengzhong had been documenting the refugee crisis over the past twelve weeks.
She was filming in a train station when two police officers stopped her and escorted her to a station near Polykastro. She was released several hours later.
On May 24, riot police were sent in to evacuate the makeshift camp. Ai’s team were planning to release a feature length documentary later this year on the plight of refugees arriving in Greece.