The work of Ai WeiWei and that of Belgian artist Wim Delvoye does the same, as the video below demonstrates (Ei Weiwei meets Wim Delvoye at documenta 12).
Ei Weiwei is a familiar 'big player' in the artworld; Wim Delvoye is perhaps less so in some circles. Their work sits very solidly within and responds to their respective native cultures. I've always connected with Ei Weiwei's work. My appreciation of Delvoye's work has taken somewhat longer to blossom. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to look into his work more closely as part of a translation project for the 'Sympathy for the Devil' show at the Vanhaerents Art Collection in Brussels. My initial encounters with his oeuvre had left me in a bit of a quandary; there seemed to be an incongruity, which disturbed me. This documentary has deepened my understanding of him as an artist (and an individual?).
The two artists raise what I feel are some very interesting and important questions in this documentary:
starting with the issue of critical distance and memory, min. 8.32 to 9.15;
22.00 to 23.16: leaving things to chance and working with them;
and subsquently Ei Weiwei's 1001 Chairs, using objects that already exist - so no 'adding to' - each chair with its own history, its own story, and continuing their stories (of greater interest than the 'recycled' things they look at nearby, in my view);
the function of purposely 'bad' art; and moralizing as an artist and an individual;
and other 'big questions' such as Darwinian evolution, God, vegetarianism.
Delvoye's initial confusion that a signpost at the exit of the Documenta hall was an artwork I thought was fascinating, as were the comments from Ai Weiwei's agent.
Delvoye's webiste is well worth a look:
http://www.wimdelvoye.be/
as is the website of the Vanhaerents Art Collection:
http://www.vanhaerentsartcollection.com/en/
The philosophy and principles upon which this collection and here more specifically the 'Sympathy for the Devil' exhibition are founded is inspiring. In my view an approach that justifies the presence of an intermedieary between the artist and the viewer; commercialism occupying a subordinate position. Very Belgian/continental? I personally haven't come across anything like that in the UK, as yet.
