interview with Ai Weiwei held in Beijing in July 2009

MW:

Your work has been presented in many different ways: Just now you’re having an exhibition in Japan which is curated in a classical way and displays only sculptures. And then, on the other hand you have shows like at Documenta or at Haus der Kunst in Munich, where you were given much more freedom and independence a kind of carte blanche to do whatever you want.

AWW:

I think traditionally the galleries, museums or institutions who show the work are like dead bodies of last wars. But Haus der Kunst is showing the killing field.

MW:

The what?

AWW:

The killing field: The artist has to struggle, he may even hurt himself or to damages to others. The title of the exhibition is So Sorry. It’s a beautiful title Chris Dercon suggested. It comes from how we look at the world: It’s a world of rationality, a result of our logic, it’s the result of results. It’s everything. We are not really controlling it, even if we might think we are. It’s about how we look at the world, how we look at it as humans or as artists functioning in the world you know, your own performance and the performance of others. you want yourself to be understood this way or the other way.

Tags: Ai Weiwei, hausderkunst, so sorry