What better way to enjoy a warm hot, lazy summer day than with some culture, especially some that we would likely not see if living in the US? Ai Weiwei is a well-known contemporary Chinese artist and political activist, and his exhibit, translocation-transformation opened recently at Schloss Belvedere and the nearby 21erHaus. Fabulous.
Chinese zodiac symbols on sticks sprinkled around the garden, in a nod to the French and British governments who destroyed a fountain at the Beijing summer palace in 1860.
In the pond, another nod to his political activist side with “Lotus flowers” made from refugee life vests.
At nearby 21er Haus, an old temple once belonging to an important tea merchant family, who were expelled from China during its cultural revolution. All 1.300 pieces were taken apart, shipped to Vienna and reassembled. That in and of itself is pretty cool.
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