Ai Weiwei Relives His Detention in 24-Hour Long Performance

Part of his new ‘Button Up!’ exhibition in Manchester.

Summary

• Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is staging his first durational performance, “Sewing a Button,” in Manchester on July 3
• Ai reenacts the conditions of his 2011 detention in the 24-hour-long live piece, where he will eat, sleep, work, wash, and write inside a replica cell
• The piece takes part in his new show, Button Up!, which confronts ideas of globalization, colonialism, and Empire through the lens of the British-Chinese textile trade

Ai Weiwei is turning one of the darkest chapters of his career into a live performance. On July 3 the dissident artist and activist will stage his first-ever durational performance: a 24-hour reenactment of his secret imprisonment, called “Sewing a Button,” as part of his new Button Up! show, on from July 2 to September 6, at Manchester’s Aviva Studios.

Ai was detained by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011. While the charges were officially on the grounds of alleged tax evasion, many of his supporters viewed the arrest as retaliation for speaking out against the government through his activism and artworks, like “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn” (1995) or his bird-flipping Study of Perspective (1995-2011) series.

The upcoming performance will see the artist in a replica of his cell, recreated by architecture firm Hawkins\Brown, where, inside, he’ll sleep, eat, exercise, write, and wash. For the spectacle, he brought on nine actors to play military guards and doctors, alongside four journalists, to interrogate him throughout the duration. The entire performance will be soundtracked by electronic duo Space Afrika.

The companion exhibition, Button Up!, traces the entanglements of power, trade, war, and empire through the unlikely lens of the humble button. Surveying the breadth of Ai’s practice, other works on view include “Eight-Nation Alliance Flag,” composed of half a million buttons; “History of Bombs,” his largest LEGO work; the Murano glass chandelier, “La Commedia Umana”; and Circle of Animals.

Can’t make it to “Sewing a Button”? CCTV cameras throughout the Hall will broadcast Ai on the Factory International website. Live screenings of the performance will also be shown at ACMI (Australia), ARTHAUS (Argentina), Dover Street Market (France), and Cafesjian Center for the Arts (Armenia), alongside a Piccadilly Lights viewing, thanks to CIRCA.

Tickets for the performance are now available. Book yours today.