The new Ai Weiwei sculpture outside the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, was inaugurated on June 15, 2022.
The sculpture “Arch” resembles a tall bird cage in steel and was originally made for an exhibition in New York 2017.
According to The Art Newspaper, Ai Weiwei was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s design for Gradiva gallery in Paris launched by the Surrealist pioneer André Breton in 1937. “In Duchamp’s work, the silhouette of two figures steps in a glass door entranceway, and in my work, it is a cage. It’s more relevant to us as we all face the challenge of walking out of the cage of our thoughts, life conditions, and wars, to enter the state of peace and health,” he says.
Arch appeared in Stockholm due to the annual conference organised by the Brilliant Minds foundation, active in Swedish capital, dedicated to creative industries. Ai Weiwei is one of the invited speakers of this year edition. Brilliant Minds foundation was established by Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, and the entrepreneur Arash Pournouri. This collaboration is part of a series of cultural events supported by Brilliant Minds for Stockholm for the next five years.
