Source : the age
The world-renowned Chinese contemporary artist and dissident who scattered millions of handmade ceramic sunflower seeds across the floor of the Tate Gallery’s Turbine Hall is creating a secret sculpture for Sydney’s harbour front – and it promises to be thought-provoking and “impactful”.
Ai Weiwei, regarded as one of the world’s most influential artist-activists, has been named the second of three artists to create a monumental work for the landmark lawn. Fronting the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), the site boasts sweeping views of the Sydney Opera House.
It’s the same waterfront location where British sculptor Thomas J. Price installed Ancient Feelings, his three-metre-tall golden braided bust, last September. That piece was also funded by a $3 million philanthropic gift.
The subject of Ai’s sculpture is shrouded in secrecy and will only be revealed upon its unveiling in September. However, it has already been billed as “one of the most thought-provoking and impactful public art works” to be presented in Australia in 2026.
MCA director Suzanne Cotter hinted that the work will be grand in scale and statement-making – befitting an artist whose sculptures, photographs, and public installations have long explored themes of political oppression, freedom of expression, and the neglect of human rights.
“Ai Weiwei is an artist whose voice resonates far beyond the art world,” she said. “This commission will be an important moment for Sydney – ambitious in scale, profound in message, and bound to engage everyone who visits this iconic location.”
The series was made possible by The Balnaves Foundation, honouring the late Neil Balnaves, the television executive and philanthropist who gifted $20 million to arts organisations.
As the largest philanthropic gift for programming the MCA has ever received, the annual Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission aims to bring world-class contemporary sculpture to the public for free each year until 2028.
Aside from his Sunflower Seeds exhibition in 2010, Ai co-designed the “Bird’s Nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. An unrelenting critic of the Chinese Communist Party, he was jailed in China in 2011 for unspecified crimes. Released in 2015, he has since lived in exile in Portugal, Germany, and Britain.
In Australia, he is best remembered for his appearance at the 21st Biennale of Sydney in 2018. At Cockatoo Island, Ai unveiled Law of the Journey, a massive black rubber lifeboat filled with figures of refugees—a commentary on the humanitarian disaster following the Syrian civil war and the global odyssey of displaced people.
The artist staged a silent vigil outside Julian Assange’s 2020 extradition hearing. Last year, he created new works after travelling to the frontlines in Ukraine. The artist’s latest show in Manchester, which opened this month, takes aim at colonial history, warfare, and the migrant crisis. It features flags of long-lost nations hanging from the ceiling, recast bronzes looted by dead empires, a black glass chandelier made of skeletons, and a wall covered in images of the most destructive bombs ever invented.
Ai Weiwei said it was a great honour and that he was excited to be invited to participate in the MCA’s commissioned creation.
Hamish Balnaves, chief executive of The Balnaves Foundation, said: “Ai Weiwei exemplifies everything this commission stands for: his practice challenges us to think deeply about humanity, power, and responsibility.
“We are proud to support a work that will speak to audiences from all walks of life in such a significant place. This commission honours my father Neil Balnaves’ belief that art should be ambitious, accessible to all, and capable of shaping how we see the world.”
The commission acts as a critical piece of public engagement and serves as another major drawcard for the MCA since it reluctantly introduced admission fees for visitors over the age of 18 (excluding students) in January 2025. The museum stated at the time that the move was necessary to secure its future and navigate a “perfect storm” of high inflation and stagnating public funding.
Public galleries and museums across Australia have been buffeted by these same economic headwinds and a cost-of-living crisis, which has also hit musical theatre – resulting in the cancellation of three major touring shows in as many weeks.
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