Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn is a photographic artwork created by contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei in 1995[1]. This art piece is composed of three 148*121cm black and white photographs. It documents the beginning, process, and finish of dropping the Han Dynasty Urn that is over 2,000 years ago. Ai broke two Urns worth about 1 million dollars[2] to complete this series of photographs, and the first group of photographs failed to capture the process of the Urn's breaking.
Process
editThe Han Dynasty Urns used in Ai Weiwei's are from a group of Han Urns that he acquired in the 1990s. This is Ai's second work on these Urns. The first is a Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo[3], created in 1994. During the process of Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, Ai chose another Urn to re-photograph because the first shot failed to capture the descent of the Urn. In 2006, Ai selected 51 of the Han Dynasty Urns he had acquired to create Colored Vases, which were then exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in conjunction with Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995). In 2015, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn was recreated in Lego.[4]
See also
editFragments of History, in 2012, Swiss collector Uli Sigg parodied Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, Manuel Salvisberg helps Uli Sigg taking a triptych black-and-white photo of Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo[3] created by Ai Weiwei for "something to shock Ai Weiwei". [5]
In 2014, one Miami artist imitate Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn destroys one of the Colored Vases vase at the exhibition. [2]
References
edit- ^ "ai weiwei dropping a han dynasty ||| figure ||| sotheby's l16020lot8tpg3en". web.archive.org. 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ a b McKirdy, Euan. "Miami artist destroys $1 million Ai Weiwei vase in protest". CNN.
- ^ a b Weiwei, Ai. "Met Museum: Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Weiwei, Ai. "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 2015".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Ai Weiwei and me: the collector's tale".
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