Infamous Vandal Destroys Ai Weiwei Sculpture
By Annette Meier
View of AI WEIWEI’s Porcelain Cube sculpture, 2009, 114 × 114 × 114 cm, after it was vandalized. Courtesy the artist.
On September 20, a self-proclaimed performance artist deliberately destroyed a porcelain sculpture by Ai Weiwei after sneaking into the invite-only opening reception for “Who Am I?” at the Palazzo Fava museum, the Chinese dissident artist’s first solo exhibition in Bologna, Italy.
Installed in the museum’s atrium, the targeted work was a blue-and-white sculpture titled Porcelain Cube (2009) that Ai told Artnet was “incredibly difficult to create.” CCTV footage of its destruction shows the man stepping behind the sculpture, then knocking it over as visitors watched, stunned. The artwork shattered to pieces, and the man wielded a shard before security tackled him to the ground.
Upon his arrest, the culprit was identified as Vaclav Pisvejc, a 57-year-old Czech man with a history of vandalism in Florence. In 2018, he attacked Serbian artist Marina Abramović during a book signing, hitting her over the head with a portrait of herself; in 2022, he set fire to a black drape shrouding a copy of Michelangelo’s David at the Piazza della Signoria; and last year he returned to the Piazza to climb, naked, onto the marble statue of Hercules and Cacus.
In a statement to Hyperallergic, the exhibition’s curator, Arturo Galansino said: “The destruction that [Ai] depicts in his works is a warning against the violence and injustice perpetrated by those in power. [It] has nothing to do with this violent, potentially dangerous, reckless, and senseless act carried out by a habitual troublemaker.”
Porcelain Cube has since been removed and replaced with a photograph of the smashed sculpture in its original, unbroken form. Ai further stated to Artnet that he will not recreate the work, as these acts are “part of the reality” of a fractured society. The exhibition opened to the public as planned on Saturday, and will run until May 4, 2025.
Annette Meier is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
