Ruyi Path by Ai Weiwei in Château La Coste [I/II]

Ai Weiwei has completed the permanent installation at Château La Coste. Loaded with symbology, Ruyi Path project runs through the grove of Château La Coste, which in collaboration with Faurschou Art Resources has made this work possible, the first one started by artist Ai Weiwei after recovering his passport.

Ruyi Path by Ai Weiwei in Château La Coste. Image © Wearecontent(s)

Faurschou Art Resources working internationally with art as a resource, they collaborate with artists, public institutions and private collections. Faurschou Art Resources was established by Luise Faurschou in 2015.

Château La Coste is a vineyard where Wine, Art & Architecture live in harmony. Artists and architects were invited to visit the domain and discover the beauty of Provence. In turn, they were encouraged to choose a place in the landscape that spoke directly to them and were given the freedom to create a work that would live there. Château La Coste will continue to evolve as new projects and installations are developed.

DescriptioN of the project by Château La Coste

Château La Coste, in partnership with Luise Faurschou, is pleased to announce an exhibition with Ai Weiwei to celebrate the artist’s new, permanent work on the vineyard.

Over the past two years, Ai Weiwei has been developing a project for Château La Coste, entitled Ruyi Path. It is named after the ceremonial scepter that symbolizes power and good fortune in Chinese folklore. The traditional S-shaped form of this scepter has provided the plan for a new pathway that weaves between the trees of the forest at Château La Coste and connects two ancient routes on the property. Created from historic cobbles salvaged from the recently renovated ports of Marseille, Ruyi Path has given a new life to these stones that so many emigrants and travellers over the years have stood upon when arriving in Europe. Defying categorization, this structure is both sculpture and architecture; traditional and modern.

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Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is a chinese conceptual artist, also works as an architect, photographer, curator and globally recognised human rights activist. Born in 1957 in Beijing, he began his training at Beijing Film Academy and later continued at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

His work has been exhibited around the world with solo exhibitions at Stiftung DKM, Duisburg (2010); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2009); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2009); Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Cambelltown Arts Center, Sydney (2008); and the Groninger Museum, Groningen (2008), and participation in the 48th Venice Biennale in Italy (1999, 2008, 2010); Guangzhou Triennale in China (2002, 2005), Busan Biennial in Korea (2006), Documenta 12 in Germany (2007), and the 29th Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil (2010). In October 2010, Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds" was installed in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London. Ai Weiwei participated in the Serpentine Gallery's China Power Station exhibition in 2006, and the Serpentine Gallery Map Marathon in 2010.

The last solo exhibitions included Ai Weiwei in the Chapel, on view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park through November 2, 2014; Evidence at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 2014; and Ai Weiwei: According to What?, which was organized by the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, in 2009, and traveled to North American venues in 2013–14. Ai collaborated with architects Herzog & de Meuron on the “bird’s nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and on the Serpentine Gallery, 2012 London. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation in 2012.