Ongoing

Museum Vestibule

With golden handcuffs, surveillance cameras, and Twitter birds woven into elaborate patterns, Ai Weiwei’s Golden Age wallpaper expresses the tension between government control and personal freedom in the digital age.

An internationally respected artist and human rights activist, Ai is known for thoughtful and defiant works that address contemporary Chinese political issues as well as global concerns. His active social media presence magnifies his artistic practice, reinforcing his campaign for freedom of expression. Golden Age speaks to Ai’s own experience of suppression and imprisonment for criticizing the Chinese government, as well as the more universal dilemma of balancing technology’s allure with its threat to our privacy.


Ai Weiwei: Golden Age is supported through the generosity of the Audrey and Bernard Berman Family Fund and the Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment.