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Poetry Makes Nothing Happen: Thoughts on Ai Weiwei from the Indianapolis Museum of Art

2013-05-21 · John · watch on YouTube · Pop culture · reflection essay

Walking through Ai Weiwei's 'According to What?' at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, John argues that Ai's rebar work for the Sichuan earthquake's dead children 'makes nothing happen' yet gives form to love, anger and grief, which is why good art matters.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; finished filming Crash Course US History; drove to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where Sarah is a curator; spring snow

  • ★★ John says he finished filming Crash Course US History early yesterday, so he drove to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where Sarah is a curator. — 00:00:00 · Crash Course, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ The description urges viewers in or near Indianapolis to see the show, which runs until July 21st. — 00:00:00 · Indianapolis
  • ★ John notes Indianapolis is having its own spring snow. — 00:00:06 · Indianapolis

00:00:09 — Spencer Finch's 'Following Nature' in the lobby; the Ai Weiwei show, its only Midwest stop thanks to Sarah

  • ★★ In the lobby, Spencer Finch's installation 'Following Nature', curated by Sarah, abstractly recreates Monet's garden at Giverny. — 00:00:09 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★★ John thinks Ai Weiwei is probably the most important artist alive. (hedged) — 00:00:20
  • ★★ John says his wife is responsible for the show 'According to What?' having its only Midwest tour stop at the museum. — 00:00:23 · Sarah Urist Green

00:00:31 — Ai's career: New York years, Beijing East Village, the Bird's Nest, police beating and selfie, Tumblr fame

  • ★★ John says Ai lived in New York from 1981 to 1993, knew Allen Ginsberg, worked as a photojournalist, then returned to China and the Beijing East Village artist community. — 00:00:31 · New York City, China
  • ★ John jokes Hank wouldn't know the later-famous Beijing East Village artists, like explaining DailyGrace's fame to someone who knows her from Lowe's commercials. (playful) — 00:00:48
  • ★★ John says Ai consulted on the Bird's Nest for the Beijing Olympics but later distanced himself, calling the affair 'a pretend smile'. — 00:00:57
  • ★★ John says Ai was detained by police and beaten so badly he suffered a subdural hematoma, and uploaded the selfie to Twitter. — 00:01:12 · Twitter
  • ★ John says Ai is primarily famous on Tumblr for flicking off important buildings. (playful) — 00:01:21 · Tumblr

00:01:24 — Contemporary art needs context: tea-leaf sculptures and appropriation; Coke-logo vase and dropped Han urn and the destruction of the old

  • ★★ John says Ai's work is broad and, as often with contemporary art, hard to appreciate without context. — 00:01:24
  • ★★ John says Ai's sculptures of over 2,000 pounds of pressed tea each recall Judd and Andre's minimalism but use Chinese material long imported by the West, asking what is appropriated, by whom. — 00:01:31
  • ★★ Citing a Neolithic vase painted with the Coke logo and the triptych of Ai dropping a Han dynasty urn, John asks how we respond to destruction of the old being inherent to creating anything new. — 00:01:50

00:02:04 — Favourite work: 38 tons of rebar from schools destroyed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake; the children's names read aloud

  • ★★★ John's favourite work: 38 tons of steel rebar from destroyed schools, bent by the quake, which Ai and his assistants hammered straight again. — 00:02:04
  • ★★★ John says after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake many blamed shoddy construction by corrupt contractors for school collapses; more than 5,000 children died and Ai led a project to record their names. — 00:02:14
  • ★★ John calls the gallery's wall label for the recording of the children's names (running time 3 hours 41 minutes) one of the saddest he has seen. — 00:02:34

00:02:54 — Auden's 'poetry makes nothing happen'; why good art matters; sign-off over the names

  • ★★★ John quotes W. H. Auden: poetry makes nothing happen; it is a way of happening, a mouth. — 00:02:54 > «Poetry makes nothing happen»
  • ★★★ John says straightening the rebar brought back no children and held no contractor accountable, yet threatens China's government enough to detain Ai, because amid tragic statistics he gave form to love, anger and grief. — 00:03:00
  • ★★★ John concludes this is why good art matters so much and always has, even if it makes nothing happen. — 00:03:24

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