Lecture: Ai Weiwei: Between Mao and Warhol

In this lecture, John J. Curley, associate professor of modern and contemporary art at Wake Forest University, will discuss the hybridity of Ai Weiwei’s artistic practice. In many of his works, Ai emulates Western exemplars like Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp but infuses these models with techniques learned from communist propaganda during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Ai’s practice thus transforms Duchamp’s and Warhol’s postures of critical ambiguity into clear political statements, allowing his works to be read as both works of contemporary art and social activism.

Free and open to the public. In conjunction with the exhibition “Ai Weiwei: Bare Life.”