Yan Bei Attends the Opening of Ai Weiwei’s Exhibition A New Chapter in London

On February 7, 2025, Ai Weiwei’s solo exhibition, A New Chapter, opened at Lisson Gallery in London. This exhibition presents a series of new works by the artist, exploring the complexities of identity, politics, and cultural heritage through a visual language that intertwines history and contemporary themes.

At the heart of the exhibition is F.U.C.K. (2024), an installation composed of four Second World War military stretchers, covered with over 9,000 different types of buttons sourced from the now-closed A Brown & Co button factory. This piece not only continues Ai Weiwei’s research into industrialization and textile history but also symbolizes the transformation of craftsmanship in the era of globalization.

Adjacent to it, Go Fuck Yourself (2024) uses military tents as canvases, similarly sewn with buttons, addressing political polarization and social division. Through the rearrangement of materials, these works present a critical perspective on communication and conflict in contemporary society.

Additionally, Ai Weiwei reinterprets Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897-98) using toy bricks, integrating modern imagery such as drones and references to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Within this composition, he portrays himself as an Indigenous figure, examining the language of pixelation and identity in the digital age. He states, “This material is a new linguistic system, constructed through digital logic, positioned at the intersection of the rational and the irrational.”

Wheat Field with Crows (2024), another toy brick piece, replaces the crows from Van Gogh’s painting with drones, using contemporary imagery to evoke themes of chaos and control, offering a reinterpretation of historical artworks in today’s context.

The exhibition also features four small-scale sculptures made from toy bricks. Among them, Iron Helmet Secured by Toy Bricks (2024) stands out—a rusted German soldier’s helmet encased within a white brick-built altar, symbolizing war, memory, and the passage of time.

Through this exhibition, Ai Weiwei continues to push the boundaries of artistic language, constructing a dialogue between personal, political, and artistic narratives. His works, rich in conceptual depth and visual intensity, invite viewers to reconsider key issues at the intersection of history and contemporary reality.

Exhibition Information:

Title: Ai Weiwei | A New Chapter

Dates: February 7 – March 15, 2025

Venue: Lisson Gallery, London