Asian-American Artists Celebrate Ai Wei Wei’s NYC Roots

By Jamilah King Jul 18, 2014

Ai Wei Wei is often described as a Chinese artist which, technically, is true. He was born and raised in the country and has made an international name for himself with work that deals intimately with Chinese culture and politics. But an often forgotten part of his biography is the fact that he spent a big chunk of his formative years as a young adult in New York City.

A group of Asian-American artists are now out to explore that part of Ai Wei Wei’s career with a new spoken word mixed media performance called "Ai Wei Wei: The Seed."

The show goes up Thursday, July 24 at the Brooklyn Museum. The creative behind the performance includes some of our friends, like Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Creative Direction, Spoken Word, Video), Jessica Chen (Choreography), Jason Kao Hwang (Music), Adriel Luis (Spoken Word, Video, Music), and Kit Yan (Spoken Word).

Here’s more:

Ai Wei Wei: The Seed

Thursday, July 24
7:00pm – 9:30 pm

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Pkwy
Brooklyn, New York 11238

AI WEI WEI: THE SEED is a live music, video, dance and spoken word performance mash-up about the early roots of political artist Ai Weiwei and his emergence as one of the world’s foremost artists and thinkers. The show tracks the artist’s life from his childhood in exile with his political poet father Ai Qing to his formative decade in NYC (1981-1993) as a street artist in Williamsburg and the East Village, where he also befriended poet Allen Ginsberg.

by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Creative Direction, Spoken Word, Video), Jessica Chen (Choreography), Jason Kao Hwang (Music), Adriel Luis (Spoken Word, Video, Music), and Kit Yan (Spoken Word)

Tickets $18 available via Museum Tix (http://bit.ly/TBZTLK) or Visitor Center. Free for Museum Members.

Doors 6:30 PM. Show 7:30 PM. AI WEI WEI: THE SEED will be performed in the Iris B. & Gerald Cantor Auditorium.

Ticket includes admission to AI WEI WEI: THE SEED performance, Ai Wei Wei exhibit, and all Art Off the Wall events throughout the museum including Asian American Oral History Collective workshop, Wildcat! dance performance, and a calligraphy workshop. 

For more info, check out the event’s Facebook page and look for more at the Brooklyn Museum

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