The exhibition
Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, 2025 at Seattle Art Museum

“Everything is art. Everything is politics.” With this ethos, internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957) has spent over four decades challenging artistic conventions and advocating for freedom of expression. Known for his bold and often provocative approach, Ai works across performance, photography, sculpture, video, and installation, using wit and confrontation to prompt reflection on history, power, and culture.

Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, organized by the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), is the artist’s first U.S. retrospective in more than ten years and his most expansive American exhibition to date. Featuring over 130 works from the 1980s through the 2020s—including iconic pieces like Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995), Study of Perspective (1995–2011), Sunflower Seeds (2010), and Illumination (2019)—the exhibition presents a sweeping view of Ai’s evolving artistic strategies and political engagement.