Sunflower Seeds

Mini intro

Date: 2010

Size: 500×75 ft (100 million seeds)

Medium: hand-painted porcelain

Style: conceptual installation art

Location: Turbine Hall, Tate Modern

Key facts (3)

The work is a political statement about the communist regime in China under Chairman Mao

Seeds created to simulate nature

Viewers encouraged to interact physically seeds, walking over them/holding them

Historical context (4)

Sunflower seeds - a staple shared between friends in China during the famines under Mao

Chairman Mao shown in propaganda posters with sunflowers representing the people facing towards him shown as the sun

Cultural Revolution (1966-76) - under Mao, rights to freedom of expression and speech were revoked - intellectuals and liberal minds sent to re-education (labour) camps - one of these people being Ai Weiwei’s dad

Weiwei imprisoned in 2011 for 81 days for political dissent and anti-communist art, passport confiscated

Influences (3)

Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ (1917) - a urinal that Duchamp found that questions on what qualifies as art and how it needs to be represented

Richard Serra’s ‘One Ton Prop’ - four lead plates standing vertically against one another - focuses on viewer interpretation

Andy Warhol’s ‘Mao’ - mass production of prints of Mao, using capitalist statement to combat communism

Materials and techniques (8)

2 years to make everything

Each seed individually hand painted - unique and special - anti communist

Porcelain unglazed - unusual - raw and unfinished - imperfect

Porcelain is one of China’s most famous and lucrative exports - vernacular

Labour intensive process of over 30 stages including mining, milling, blending, liquifying, moulding, painting and kiln

Seeds produced in Jing de zhen by > 1600 artisans as town is known for making emperor’s porcelain in dynastic era

Weiwei provided economic regeneration for the town as most of the people living there were bankrupt - social activism - artist had little involvement during manufacture

Mass production process questions ‘Made in China’ phenomenon, visitors casually walking over seeds implies Capitalist western abuse of Chinese labourers

Subject matter (3)

100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds

Vast scale represents large population of China

Sunflower seeds are used to represent the people of china as shown in Mao’s propaganda posters