Showing: Ai Weiwei – “absent” @ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Part II)

In Part I of our visit to Taiwan to catch Ai Weiwei’s exhibition Absent at the TFAM, we gave you a look at the impressive sampling of the Chinese artist’s works from the early 80s to present day. Of course, AWW isn’t a man that rests on his laurels as he’s constantly looking at life from his unique artistic viewpoint, which brings us to his Forever Bicycles installation, a unique and completely new work created especially for the Taiwan museum.

This sculptural piece puts together 1,000 bicycle frames & tires which combines into a amazing installation that takes up the main room of the museum. Walking in from the initial portion of the exhibition that housed his past works, attendees enter to see a towering cluster of bicycles lined up meticulously and in many symmetrical layers. As one enters the room, the angles of the perfectly aligned sculptures shift with the location & perspective of the viewers, causing this artwork to change shape & size with every step. Using the sheer size, number and fluctuating movements of the piece, the artist intends to represent his home country of China where bicycles are the common element in transportation and also the ever changing population & landscape of it’s populous. Weaving through the maze of bikes gave us a sense of energy and wonderment. Similar to his sunflower seed installation at the Tate Modern in London (covered), the Chinese artist invites viewer interactions when walking or crawling through this intricate sculpture of bicycles.

Check out a detailed look at this impressive sculpture after the jump.