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Tate Modern Exhibition

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds

12 October 2010 – 2 May 2011
Ai Weiwei Uniliver Series 2010
  • About the exhibition
  • Update: Friday 22 October 2010
  • Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern
  • Find out more
The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010 the interior of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern with Ai Weiwei's installation of sunflower seeds

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010 the interior of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern with Ai Weiwei's installation of sunflower seeds

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010

About the exhibition

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small works, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain. 

Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape.

Porcelain is almost synonymous with China and, to make this work, Ai Weiwei has manipulated traditional methods of crafting what has historically been one of China’s most prized exports. Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon and the geo-politics of cultural and economic exchange today.

This film file is broken and is being removed. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds

Update: Friday 22 October 2010

The landscape of sunflower seeds can be looked upon from the Turbine Hall bridge, or viewed at close range in the east end of the Turbine Hall on Level 1. It is no longer possible to walk on the surface of the work, but visitors can walk close to the edges of the sunflower seed landscape on the west and north sides.

Although porcelain is very robust, we have been advised that the interaction of visitors with the sculpture can cause dust which could be damaging to health following repeated inhalation over a long period of time. In consequence, Tate, in consultation with the artist, has decided not to allow members of the public to walk across the sculpture.

Sunflower Seeds is a total work made up of millions of individual pieces which together from a single unique surface. In order to maintain and preserve the landscape as a whole, Tate asks visitors not to touch or remove the sunflower seeds.

Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern

Ai Weiwei's Unilever Series commission, Sunflower Seeds, is a beautiful, poignant and thought-provoking sculpture. The thinking behind the work lies in far more than just the idea of walking on it. The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content create a powerful commentary on the human condition. Sunflower Seeds is a vast sculpture that visitors can contemplate at close range on Level 1 or look upon from the Turbine Hall bridge above. Each piece is a part of the whole, a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. The work continues to pose challenging questions: What does it mean to be an individual in today's society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds is curated by Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern, supported by Kasia Redzisz, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern.

Tate Modern

Bankside
London SE1 9TG
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Dates

12 October 2010 – 2 May 2011

Sponsored by

The Unilever Series: an annual art commission

The Unilever Series: an annual art commission

The World Collections Programme

The World Collections Programme

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  • Artist

    Ai Weiwei

    born 1957
  • One-to-one with the Artist: Explore Videos

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