Art21 New York Close Up

Weekly Roundup

Ai Weiwei. "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads," 2012. Photo courtesy the artist.  © 2012 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Ai Weiwei. “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,” 2012. Photo courtesy the artist. © 2012 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

In this week’s roundup Ai Weiwei’s Chinese zodiac heads, Erin Shirreff’s light works, Laurie Anderson’s book collection and more.

  • Ai Weiwei‘s first U.S. retrospective is on view at the Hirschhorn Museum (D.C.). Ai Weiwei: According to What? occupies the museum’s entire second level and part of the third with installations, sculpture, photography and video and audio works. A catalog featuring his most significant works since 2000 can be downloaded here. The show closes February 24, 2013.
  • Ai Weiwei‘s outdoor sculpture Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is on view at the Hirschhorn. The installation, which features twelve bronze animal heads representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac, each of which stand approximately ten feet high, will be displayed around the perimeter of the fountain in the Museum’s central plaza. This work is on view through February 24, 2013.

  • Erin Shirreff: Available Light is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Canada, on view at Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston). The show is an investigation of how light and form unites Erin Shirreff‘s approach to different media. The show is on view until January 27, 2013.
  • To Beauty: A Tribute to Mike Kelley, an exhibition featuring the late Mike Kelley‘s work, is on view at the Frost Art Museum (Miami). The pieces are mostly from a local collection and gives visitors a chance to study some of the more subtle art in the artist’s spectrum. The exhibition runs through February 24, 2013.
  • Collected Stories: Books by Laurie Anderson, now on view at the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), samples Laurie Anderson‘s collection of publications, ranging from a 1971 wordless picture book about a mysterious package to a more recent illustrated dream journal. This exhibition closes February 3, 2013.
  • Kimsooja and John Baldessari have works on view in Now Here is also Nowhere, Part I at the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle). The show is billed as a survey of how “artists continually question and destabilize the nature of the art object.” The exhibition closes January 6, 2013.