Ai Weiwei hails Manchester's 'amazing' culture as show opens
BBCAcclaimed artist Ai Weiwei has hailed Manchester for "achieving something amazing" by creating the city's flagship Aviva Studios.
The Chinese activist, who has created political sculptures, photographs, and other public works, made the comments as he launched a new exhibition of his work, which explores themes including global relationships and the consequences of war, at the venue.
"I've never experienced a similar space in my life and that was a challenge, so I studied the history of Manchester, including its role as the world's first industrial city," he said.
"I never dreamed I would come to Manchester but this city has openness and ambition when its comes to promoting art and culture. It's really admirable."
Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 and is best known for designing the landmark "birds nest" stadium when the Olympic Games took place in his home city in 2008.
The artist, who is also known for his political activism, will take part in a performance piece to mark the launch of the exhibition in Manchester, which will recreate his 81-day detention by the Chinese authorities in 2011.
He said he wanted people to consider what it meant to live in a time when the world was "deeply divided, with tragedy all around".
"Understanding history goes hand in hand with standing up for truth and justice," he said.
His exhibition includes a giant 160ft (49m) inflatable black dinghy, with dozens of dummy figures, representing refugees, and eight imperial flags made with four million buttons, which represent the countries which invaded China in response to the Boxer Rebellion, an uprising in the country between 1899 and 1901 which sought to purge it of foreign merchants and missionaries.
It also includes a giant mural called History of Bombs, which was made with 3.5 million Lego bricks, and a Ming dynasty timber-framed great hall, which has been reassembled to symbolise the greatness of Chinese history.
The Ai Weiwei: Button Up! exhibition is taking place at the flagship £240m arts centre which opened in the city centre in 2023.
The building launched with a large-scale exhibition by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, which featured polka-dot spheres, inflatable dolls and giant balloons.
John McGrath, chief executive of the city's Factory International cultural organisation, said he thought that "everyone's going to walk in here and just go 'wow' - because there are so many beautiful things here which tell us so much about Chinese and European history".
"We've got visitors from across the world, as well as from Manchester, coming to see this show," he added.
Factory International, which operates the Aviva Studios, began negotiations to bring the Ai Weiwei exhibition to Manchester four years ago, before the venue opened.
Creative director Low Kee Hong said Ai Weiwei had first visited when the venue "was still under construction and he was really taken by the monumental scale of the building".
"Weiwei is such a keen observer of life and he was really impressed by the possibilities of what this space can offer," he added.
The large sculptures in the exhibition include previously-shown work and new commissions, which will be dismantled and placed in storage when the show ends.
Much of the art will then be reassembled and displayed in galleries across the world.
The exhibition is on until 6 September.