ROME — A man smashed a sculpture by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei at the private opening of his exhibition in the northern Italian city of Bologna, in an act of vandalism that the exhibition’s curator described Tuesday as a “reckless and senseless act.”
The large blue and white “Porcelain Cube” was part of the exhibition “Who am I?”, which opened on Saturday at the Palazzo Fava in Bologna.
Italian media reported that local police arrested a 57-year-old Czech man who identified himself as an artist. He was known to have targeted important works of art in the past.
It remains unclear how the man gained access to Friday’s invitation-only event, but the museum confirmed that the exhibit opened to the public as planned on Saturday.
According to the artist’s wishes, the fragments of the work were covered with cloth and removed. They will be replaced by a life-size engraving and a label explaining what happened.
Ai shared CCTV footage of the attack on her Instagram account, which shows the man dragging around the artwork before suddenly moving behind it and pushing it until it crashed to the gallery floor.
The man then held up a broken fragment in a gesture of triumph before museum security pinned him down and dragged him to the ground.
Ai himself is known worldwide for his creative statements destroying works of art. One of his most famous works, “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, (1995),” shows the artist dropping a 2,000-year-old ceremonial urn, letting it crash to the ground at his feet.
“The act of vandalism against Ai Weiwei’s ‘Porcelain Cube’ is even more shocking when one considers that several of the works on display explore the theme of destruction itself,” said the exhibition’s curator, Arturo Galansino.
“The destruction that Ai Weiwei depicts in his works is a warning against the violence and injustice perpetrated by those in power, and has nothing to do with this violent, potentially dangerous, reckless and senseless act,” he added.
Galansino described the attacker as “a habitual troublemaker seeking attention by damaging artists, works, monuments and institutions.”
