The NGV exhibition, Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei has taken Melbourne and Australia by storm. The exhibition, developed by the NGV and The Andy Warhol Museum, with the participation of Ai Weiwei, was three years in the making. Sean Sennett caught up with the NGV’s Deputy Director Andrew Clark to discuss how the NGV team brought the exhibition to life.
So, three years in the making? That’s quite a journey.
Yes, three years in the making, and I think for a lot of the staff here it’s one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever worked on. Just because you’ve got one iconic artist from the 20th century combined with another one from the 21st century, it’s also very much a tale of two cities New York and Beijing.
Weiwei (has discussed his) passion for Warhol, I think you really feel that in that exhibition. The sort of deep acknowledgement that he gave to it. I also like his confidence in being able to talk about that. I think so often with some artists they sometimes only want to talk about their own work. As soon as you say it’s an ‘influence’ they say ‘oh, no, it’s not an influence’. I thought it was a real strength of Weiwei’s personal character that he was able to reference it so freely, and with such confidence.
Where did the idea come from? The idea of combining these two artists?
The idea for the exhibition was jointly developed by the NGV with the Warhol Museum and Ai Weiwei’s studio, whom we collaborated very closely with.
There are 300 pieces in the show from Warhol. Where did you get them? Did you have a wish list?
Once we’d developed the idea together with the Warhol Museum of doing the exhibition on these two artists, then our curator Max Delany and the curators at the Warhol Museum particularly worked up the idea of these thematics, where we would look at one idea, and then really explore that idea in depth.
That drove that selection of works. While it’s a big experience, it’s a very finely curated experience. You would have seen that, even in that last room before the children’s one, with all that resource material: looking at documentaries and so forth. Then if you look at the scholarship in the catalogue, for example,, there’s an immediacy to this project that we all know, like soup cans, flowers, bicycles for Weiwei, coloured pots. But then there’s a depth, an intellectual rationale to each of those rooms and the selections.
Do you have any favourite pieces for you that jump out?
I think that Weiwei’s “Forever Bicycle” is incredible. I just think lots of it is very strong, but I think what’s also interesting for Australia is it’s another level on big international exhibitions we’ve seen here, in terms of its ambition, the fact it also has a big collection legacy in terms of what we’re acquiring for the NGV Collection.
In terms of attendance numbers, you’re dreaming big, right?
I like to under promise and over deliver! I think, as always, one first test is how many people turn up at your media preview. I hadn’t seen so many journalists at at a media preview in my life when the show opened.
I think that’s the other thing about Weiwei, it’s so much more than just being an “artist”. He’s a cultural phenomenon and spokesperson for a generation and all those things. You see that. When (he was at the NGV) people just approach him wanting selfies.
He doesn’t mind, obviously.
No, he does them all. When Weiwei was in the city there was a Chinese guy who was very formal in a suit. He was walking down St. Kilda Road, and Weiwei and I were coming the other way with Weiwei’s assistant. And the guy said something in Chinese that I couldn’t understand. And then he gave Weiwei a hug. I thought it was like an old friend. And then he said can I get my photo. And they took a selfie. Weiwei always takes a selfie so when the selfie is done it’s not your selfie. It’s his photograph on your camera. It’s his technique. It was quite funny!
Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei runs at the NGV until April 24
Ai Weiwei at National Gallery of Victoria exhibition Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei, 11 December 2015 – 24 April 2016. Ai Weiwei artwork © Ai Weiwei. Photo: John Gollings
