Ai weiwei took cues from popular Chinese legends called Shan Hai Jing for the exhibition, a collection of epic tales and popular legends that dates back to chinese antiquity, told by children for more than 2,000 years. the artist selected some two dozen characters and mythological creatures to personify inside the space, adopting the ancient technique of traditional kites, which brings together the flexibility of bamboo and lightweight silk.
Ai weiwei describes, ‘This experience also allows me to find a new way to conceive an exhibition, with constraints that are different from a museum’s or a gallery’s. Exploring new potentials is an integral part of my work as an artist,’ and he adds ‘Showing at Le Bon Marché is using a new medium, the department store, to encounter a new audience as broad as a museum’s. Introducing the fantastic idea within a retail space strikes the imagination of customers, visitors and passersby. We all lead parallel lives in this other world of dreams, fantasies and fears. We must learn to coexist with them, as they are an integral part of our humanity; to embrace our mythology. Children know how to do this naturally. This exhibition speaks to our inner child.’
The exhibition is divided into three areas of the store: windows, atriums and the gallery. The ten storefront display cases of le Bon Marché are transformed into stages for mythological storytelling. The woven bamboo dragon’s structure echoes the space’s interior columns, while the creature’s panelled forms mirror the panels of the ceiling. Sculptures of other mythological creatures have taken over the store’s atrium, while two-dimensional bamboo figures fill its window displays.
Venue.- Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, 24, rue de Sèvres. Paris. France
Dates.- Er Xi at Le Bon Marché runs until 20 February.
