Ai Weiwei's 'Button Up!' Exhibition Draws Mixed Reviews for Scale and Symbolism
The article reviews Ai Weiwei's new exhibition 'Button Up!' at Manchester's Aviva Studios, highlighting the Chinese artist-activist's re-enactment of 24 hours of his 81-day detention in a replica cell. Critics acknowledge Ai's extraordinary courage and risk as a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, but express disappointment with the exhibition's execution. The show features large-scale works including a 3.5-million-Lego-brick mural 'History of Bombs', a chandelier made from 2,000 glass body-part pieces, a giant inflatable dinghy addressing the refugee crisis, and house-sized flags sewn from buttons representing nations that invaded China in 1900. While some critics find the scale effective, others criticize the heavy-handed symbolism and lack of nuance, with one reviewer stating 'meaningful politics seems to escape Ai Weiwei. So does meaningful art.' The exhibition runs until 6 September.
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