Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Royal Academy of Arts in London

The lead up to He Xie (Crabs) – 河蟹

Artist Ai Weiwei, it seems, is always surrounded by controversy whether it is in relation to his visual masterpieces or his activism. Mr. Ai’s run-ins with the Chinese government have continued to border on dangerous but the revered artist is always willing to include these elements in his performance art. In 2010, Ai ran into the Chinese police in an unfortunate encounter whereby the local government tore down a large new studio that Ai had built in Shanghai as a result of ‘code violations’.

Before the studio was demolished, Ai hosted a dinner at the Shanghai studio, which he was barred by the government from attending, as a satirical nod to the studio’s planned destruction by the administration. The dinner was characterized by one of Ai’s most talked about installations- He Xie (crabs).

The meaning of Ai Weiwei’s porcelain crabs

As the name suggests, the installation consisted of 3,000 incredibly real-like river crabs piled up across a corner of a room. Ai Wei Wei titled the work He Xie, which is a homonym for harmony and a phrase that is used regularly by the government. He Xie, according to sources, also refers to a slang term to mean censorships.

Ai Wei used the porcelain crabs to represent himself; an artist whose voice has been restricted by authorities and has been forced to remain uncomfortably in a space that he does not belong in, motionless and restful. In the installation, a single crab was placed on a skirting board to symbolize the Ai Weiwei who it appears had managed to reclaim his passport for an amazing chance to show his artworks outside China for the first time in years.

About Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei might be the most popular international artist of his time and the greatest Chinese advocate and campaigner of all time. This artist is also a famed architect; case in point, he played an instrumental role in helping to design the Beijing Olympic Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) alongside Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss architects that were commissioned to design the project.

Over the past few years, the portly and easily recognizable Ai Weiwei has emerged as an eloquent voice of freedom, helping to shed light on the atrocities and the repressiveness of Chinese authorities and the administration in general. His most significant visual installations vary in size and magnitude, but they all play an instrumental role in changing Chinese culture and society.

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Royal Academy of Arts in London

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Pérez Art Museum Miami

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC, 2013

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2013

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Royal Academy of Arts in London

Ai Weiwei – He Xie (crabs), 3200 porcelain crabs, Red Drawing room, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, United Kingdom

Other important works

• Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995
• Study of Perspective, 1995-
• Remembering, 2009
• Sunflower Seeds, 2010
• Forever Bicycles, 2014

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