Ai Weiwei at Tate Modern

I had some spare time in London on Monday after the Russell Tribunal Press conference so I decided to take the opportunity to see a few exhibitions. Ever since the Ai Weiwei opened I have been longing to visit but ever so sadly I was left hugely disappointed. Having watched BBC’s Imagine on the artist I was already prepared for the fact that I wouldn’t be able to touch or interact with the work because of the porcelain dust fears but I still thought the piece may have some impact.

Unfortunately a piece of art that from the very start was always intended to be interactive can never work when the interactivity is taken away, you cannot get near the seeds so unfortunately the floor of the Turbine hall ends up looking like it’s covered in gravel. I envy hugely the people who were able to take part in scenes such as these:

Every seed was individually hand painted by the women of a village near Beijing and each is absolutely beautiful, photographs such as this one show the gorgeous juxtaposition between the delicately hand crafted seeds and the powerful steel girders;

It is always nice to visit the Tate, I only wish my most recent visit could have been earlier in the month!