MALAGA.- The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga presents the first ever showing in Spain of Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Curated by Fernando Francés, the exhibition features 12 bronze sculptures over three metres tall that represent the heads of the animals in the Chinese zodiac. The pieces are inspired by the water clock-fountain in the Summer Palace of Yuanming Yuan that was razed to the ground during the Second Opium War. Renowned for his activism and opposition to the Chinese regime, Ai Weiwei returns time and time to his key themes: non-conformism, dissidence, the state of the media and the quest to view Chinese tradition in a new context. Ai Weiwei lives and works in his studio in Beijing, the city he was unable to leave until 22 July this year after being placed under house arrest by the government.

“A society lacking in freedom of speech is a dark bottomless pit. When it’s this dark, everything begins to look bright.” This is one of the most oft-repeated quotes by Ai Weiwei (1957, Beijing), the artist behind the exhibition Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads at the CAC Málaga, its first ever showing in Spain. The phrase sums up the critical stance of this artist who uses his work to condemn repression and censorship, the reason why he was detained in April 2011 for 81 days by the Chinese regime and was banned until 22 July of this year from leaving the country. Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads consists of 12 bronze sculptures, each more than three metres tall, which represent the heads of the Chinese zodiac.

As Fernando Francés, director of CAC Málaga, explains: “Weiwei knows exactly what he wants to express with his art, and he achieves his purpose with extreme precision. There is a very clear aim behind the constant provocation of his works: to stir consciences. His creations are not only the result of a creative process, but of the experiences that he and his compatriots have lived through. He is a visual artista whose art provokes, challenges, shocks… a man who uses art as a weapon of protest, a weapon loaded with truth bullets.”.

Renowned for his constant criticism of the lack of freedoms in China and his opposition to the country’s regime, Ai Weiwei operates on a global scale in every format and channel, returning time and time again to his key themes: non-conformism, dissidence and the state of the media. His works invite spectators to view Chinese tradition in a new context. For example, the pieces that form part of Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads are inspired by the water clock-fountain in the Summer Palace of Yuanming Yuan, a Versailles-like complex built in the 18th century by the Chinese court and whose gardens and buildings were razed to the ground in 1860, during the Second Opium War.

Ai Weiwei’s fighting spirit was forged in his youth. In 1958 his father Ai Qing, a renowned Chinese poet, was banned from publishing his work and banished to a farm in Manchuria, where his family had no access to books or reading. On his return to Beijing in 1975, Ai Weiwei immersed himself in the city’s cultural life and activist circles. Soon after, he travelled to the United States to study pop art, conceptual art and minimalism, trends which together with artists like Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol became the predominant influences in his work.

One of the key factors in consolidating the international reputation of Ai Weiwei and his work was the incorporation of the internet, which he discovered in 2005 and turned into his mouthpiece, as an additional channel of dissemination. “The internet is what has affected me and ignited me”, the artist once admitted.

During the 600 days that he was banned from leaving his country, his works toured the world’s museums. His most notable shows include So Sorry, at the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2009; Sunflower Seeds, held at the Tate Modern in London in 2010; and several more recent ones such as According To What, at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington in 2012; and Evidence, at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, and @Large, at the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, both in 2014. His first exhibition in China opened on 6 June of this year at Beijing’s 798 Art Zone.