Ai Wei Wei and the Duchampian Influence

Choo Li-Shan Samantha (lschoo.2010@smu.edu.sg)

Exchange Student at Freie Universitt Berlin
20
th
Century Art in Berlin, Germany and Beyond
Humboldt-Universitt Berlin
Instructor: Nico Anklam, M.A.
Winter Semester 2013

Introduction

The works of Ai Weiwei, Chinas most well-known contemporary artist, bears
many similarities to those of the late surrealist and Dadaist Marcel Duchamp.
Both are revolutionaries and rebels in their respective circles, always
challenging the norm and constantly adopting new methods to tease,
stimulate and provoke.

More importantly, both artists believe strongly in the concept of an artwork
being more relevant than the art itself. Ai is not just an artist, but is also
famously concerned with political issues and has ruffled more than a few
feathers in the Chinese government over the last decade in his unconstrained
pursuit of free expression and artistic commentary. His works resonate with
conceptual meaning, most often related to his pet cause: the repression of his
homeland by its government. This draws a parallel with Duchamp, who
wanted art to be in the service of the mind rather than the eye (retinal art)
1
.
His readymades subverted the nature of art and forced viewers to rethink the
aesthetic experience. It is clear that Ai has adopted a similar school of
thought: many of the concepts and much of the material that Ai uses in his art
practice are informed by post-conceptual thinking.

This paper will thus situate Ai Wei Weis works in relation to those of
Duchamp by comparing and contrasting works from each artist to
demonstrate the influence of Duchamp on Ai.

Readymades

One of the most distinct parallels that can be drawn between Duchamp and Ai
is the use of the readymade. One of Duchamps most famous readymades,
Bicycle Wheel (1913) (see Exhibit A), literally a bicycle wheel mounted and

1
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/duch/hd_duch.htm
2
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=81631
3
John F. Moffitt, Alchemist of the Avant-Garde: The Case of Marcel Duchamp, (Albany, New York: State
inverted onto a stool, caused outrage among the artistic community of his
time, as such a simple object with such a casual genesis could not possibly
have been considered an honest piece of art. By withdrawing the hand of the
artist from the process of art and replacing articles made by an artist for
manufactured ones, he sparked a fierce discourse on established notions of
the artists craft and the viewers aesthetic experience.

Like Bicycle Wheel, Ais Stool (1997) (See Exhibit B) ignited similar
uneasiness and debate. Stool can be considered a readymade because of
Ais manipulation of readymade objects to produce a new, singular work of
art. To construct Stool, Ai selected two nearly identical three-legged stools
from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and melded them in a visually arresting
manner. One leg was removed so that the two stools fused into a single entity
using traditional Chinese techniques of nail-less joinery. The result is an
unnatural object that makes the viewer slightly uncomfortable due to its
alleged precariousness- although the transformed object rests steadily on
three legs, there is a distinct sense of being thrown off-balance. Ai tends to
remain taciturn when it comes to the interpretation of his art, but his
appropriation of three-hundred-year-old antiques suggests a rejection and an
overthrowing of Chinese tradition, history and culture.

Beyond their mutual use of the readymade and the stool, their other
commonalities are more profound:

Idle visual pleasure:
Both works are highly curious objects. Duchamp had described Bicycle
Wheel as a distraction: I enjoyed looking at it, just as I enjoy looking
at the flames dancing in a fireplace.
2
Stool has a similar mesmerizing
effect (fireplace moment) on the viewer in its oddity, structure and
imbalance; one cannot help but be drawn to it.


2
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=81631
Comic effect:
Duchamp was well known for being a joker and often inserted tongue-
in-cheek elements into his work. Bicycle Wheel was not an exception. It
resembles a unicycle in its singular wheel- a device often associated
with the comical due to its circus and performing history. Like
Duchamp, Ai is also known for having a mischievous and rebellious
nature. Stool is similarly entertaining in its form: the viewer might
expect the structure to topple over at any given moment, conjuring
allusions to comedians and their clumsiness. On a side note, this
unsteadiness fits perfectly in line with the aforementioned suggestion of
Stool being a symbol of toppling Chinese tradition and culture.

Cultural impact:
Both works were created not from an aesthetic approach (nor a
nostalgic one in Ais case) but rather created in order to stir up
conventional notions about culture and to question established values.
In various interviews, Duchamp was adamant about the vague and
almost accidental way in which Bicycle Wheel came into existence.
According to the artist, he did not have any special reason to [build
Bicycle Wheel], or any intention of showing [the object], or describing
anything.
3
Nonetheless, the audience started to participate, to think
and to decide for themselves what art was. Likewise, Stool, which
liberated the original Qing Dynasty stools from their historical value, is
a commentary on the often bizarre contemporary Chinese society, with
modern China having flourished at the cost of the personal freedom of
its citizens.

In perhaps his most audacious and shocking work, Ai smashed a Han
Dynasty (206 BC 220 AD) urn in the performance Dropping a Han Dynasty
Urn (1995), thus destroying two-thousand-years worth of tradition, culture and

3
John F. Moffitt, Alchemist of the Avant-Garde: The Case of Marcel Duchamp, (Albany, New York: State
University of New York Press, 2003), 230
history. It is remembered in a photo-triptych (see Exhibit D). Ais face, as he
sends it crashing to the ground, remains impassive and uncaring. It has been
said that Dropping, essentially an ancient readymade, belongs to a small
group of 20
th
-century ceramics that have changed the face of contemporary
art. Another famous ceramic that belongs to this class is none other than
Duchamps Fountain (1917) (see Exhibit C).

Fountain, arguably Duchamps most eminent and scandalous readymade,
consisted of a standard urinal, laid flat on its back rather than upright in its
usual position, and signed R. Mutt 1917. It is the epitome of the offensive on
conventional thought and aesthetic appreciation for which Duchamp and his
fellow Dadaists were known. Parallels can be drawn between Dropping and
Fountain: both were viewed as highly offensive, in both the ceramic
component was lost, and both originals live on only as photographs.

There are differences, of course. In Dropping, Ai in fact destroys the
readymade. Ai wanted to highlight Chinas eagerness to shun aside its history
in the name of modernization- the country was quick to destroy historical and
cultural sites to make way for new luxury developments. Other themes
included questions of authenticity (many wondered if the urn was just one of
the thousands of fakes on the market) and the cycle of creative destruction.
Duchamp, on the other hand, was challenging conventional notions of art as
previously described.

Movement and Motion

Dropping also shares a similarity with Duchamps most famous painting, Nude
Descending A Staircase No. 2 (see Exhibit E): Both capture the element of
motion in a series of static representations. Nude Descending a Staircase
seems to depict a human figure in motion, in a style inspired by Cubist ideas
about the deconstruction of forms. The painting incorporates only abstract
lines, planes and browns. Lines follow the figures successive positions and
create a rhythmic sense of motion while shaded planes add depth and volume
to the nudes form. The gradient of the sequence also changes: the top left
fades into the bottom right, apparently intending to depict the initial positions
of the figure.

It is interesting to note that the photographic motion studies of Muybridge and
Marey inspired Nude:

I had seen chronophotographs of fencers in action and horse galloping
(what we today call stroboscopic photography) gave me the idea for
the Nude The whole idea of movement, of speed, was in the air.
4


He also recalled of the relation between motion and his nude:

My aim was a static representation of movement, a static composition
of indications of various positions taken by a form in movementwith
no attempt to give cinema effects through painting.
5


Ais choice to chronicle his act of dropping the Han Dynasty urn in a series of
photographs instead of video, which could have been a more natural medium,
could possibly have been influenced by Duchamps nude.

Conclusion

It is clear that like many contemporary artists, Ai is significantly influenced by
Duchamp in his art. The more one looks at Ais collection of work and
background, the more apparent it is that Duchamp had inspired him with the
model of how to be a inquisitive and provocative artist. But although this
influence resonates throughout Ais practice, it seems like Ai evolves and

"
Katherine Kuh, Marcel Duchamp, interview broadcast on the BBC program 'Monitor', 29 March 1961,
published in Katherine Kuh (ed.), The Artist's Voice. Talks with Seventeen , Harper & Row, New York
1962, pp. 81-93
5
Peter Brooker, Andrew Thacke, Geographies Of Modernism: Literatures, Cultures, Spaces, Taylor &
Francis US, 2005
goes beyond Duchamp in terms of conceptual practice due to his political and
cultural involvement and influence.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Ai first arrived in the United States, he encountered the Arensberg
Collection of Duchamp works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Being
unaware of Duchamp at that time, Ai was astounded and ultimately inspired
by the late artist. He recalls:

Until I discovered Duchamp, I had no idea that art could be a lifestyle...
[it] saved my life I understood that art could be a gesture, and that
a gesture could take any form the artist chose.
6



6
Smith, Karen (2009). Giant Provocateur. In: B. Fibicher, H. Obrist, and K. Smith, Ai Weiwei. London and
New York: Phaidon Press LTD
Appendix

Exhibit A Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel. 1915. Metal wheel mounted on
painted wood stool, 51 x 25 x 16 1/2" (129.5 x 63.5 x 41.9 cm).



Exhibit B Ai Weiwei, Stool. 1997. Stool from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).




Exhibit C Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917/1964; glazed ceramic with black
paint, 15 in. x 19 1/4 in. x 24 5/8 in. (38.1 cm x 48.9 cm x 62.55 cm)








Exhibit D Ai Weiwei, Dropping of the Han Dynasty Urn, 1995/2004, gelatin
silver print, 180 x 162cm each unit


Exhibit E - Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending A Staircase No. 2. 1912. Oil
on canvas. 147 x 89.2cm