Artworks

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei at Tate Modern, detail view

Image credit

Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Meet the artist

Ai Weiwei
Ai WeiweiChineseMore info

Dates

More details

Movement
Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art
Medium
Ceramics, Installation
Genre
Conceptual, Political Art

About the Artwork

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds is an artwork of staggering scale and meticulous craftsmanship. One hundred million individually handmade porcelain sunflower seeds carpeted 1,000 square metres of the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall to a depth of 10 centimetres, weighing a total of 150 tonnes. Each tiny seed underwent a 30-step process, hand-painted and fired at 1,300 degrees Celsius by over 1,600 artisans in Jingdezhen over two and a half years.

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