Provisional Landscapes
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This trio of images presents a gridlike expanse of low brick buildings that were perhaps old barracks, a power plant dominated by smokestacks and cooling towers, and new residential towers looming over naked trees and razed houses.
Part of a large series recorded between 2002 and 2008, when Beijing was radically transformed in anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, these images vividly document the wholesale transformation of China’s landscape by juxtaposing modern structures with older buildings being demolished. These landscapes are “provisional” because they are in transition. Photographed in winter, the leafless trees, gray skies, and absence of people intensify the sense of stark desolation.
Part of a large series recorded between 2002 and 2008, when Beijing was radically transformed in anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, these images vividly document the wholesale transformation of China’s landscape by juxtaposing modern structures with older buildings being demolished. These landscapes are “provisional” because they are in transition. Photographed in winter, the leafless trees, gray skies, and absence of people intensify the sense of stark desolation.
Artwork Details
- Title: Provisional Landscapes
- Artist: Ai Weiwei (Chinese, born Beijing, 1957)
- Date: 2002–8
- Culture: China
- Medium: Three chromogenic prints from a series
- Dimensions: Image (each photo): 38 3/16 × 48 1/16 in. (97 × 122 cm)
each panel: 9 ft. 9 5/16 in. × 50 in. (298 × 127 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Lent by M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong
- Rights and Reproduction: © Ai Weiwei
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art