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Jessica Warchall
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM ANNOUNCES
ANDY WARHOL / AI WEIWEI, OPENING JUNE 2016
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TK
Pittsburgh, PA, July 7, 2015 —
Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, December 11, 2015 – April 24, 2016
The Andy Warhol Museum, USA, June 4 – August 28, 2016
The Andy Warhol Museum announces, in collaboration with the National Gallery of
Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, Australia, a major international exhibition featuring
two significant artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—Andy Warhol and
Ai Weiwei. Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei opens at NGV in December 2015, and at The
Warhol in June 2016.
Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei, developed by the NGV and The Warhol, with the
participation of Ai Weiwei, explores the significant influence of these two artists on
modern and contemporary life, focusing on the parallels, intersections, and points of
difference between their practices—Warhol representing twentieth-century
modernity and the “American century,” and Weiwei representing life in the twentyfirst century and what has been called the “Chinese century” to come.
At The Warhol, the exhibition creates an often dissonant and at times sympathetic
Image: Ai Weiwei, At the Museum of Modern
Art, 1987 (detail), from the New York
Photographs series 1983–93, Collection of Ai
Weiwei, © Ai Weiwei; Andy Warhol artwork
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual
Arts, Inc.
dialogue between the artists, throughout the seven floors of the building. The artists
share a capacity to engage a multitude of media, using it as a means to become keen
observers of contemporary culture and politics. Viewers experience major works in
drawings, moving image, new media, photography, painting, and sculpture, and they
The Andy Warhol Museum
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One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
have a chance to consider the major contributions by both artists, each of whom is as
famous for his artistic persona as for the work he produced. The museum and Ai
Weiwei are engaged in a new public art project at Pittsburgh’s 2016 Three Rivers
Arts Festival and are also partnering with Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum to create a
focused set of programs and events, exploring the relationships between political
activism, freedom of expression, and art making in this ever more globalized world.
-more-
Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei, Opening in Pittsburgh June 2016 — Page 2
The NGV exhibition presents more than 300 works, including major new
commissions—such as a new installation from Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles series
and a monumental memorial work from his chandelier series—immersive
installations, and a wide representation of both artists’ paintings, sculpture, film,
photography, publishing, and social media, as well as more than 500 Polaroids
documenting Warhol’s friends, colleagues, and artistic and social milieux.
Andy Warhol (Pittsburgh, 1928–New York, 1987) was a leading protagonist in the
development of Pop Art, and his influence extended beyond the world of fine art and
into music, film, television, celebrity, publishing, and popular culture. Warhol
created defining iconography of the late twentieth century through his exploration of
consumer society, fame and celebrity, media, advertising, politics, and capital.
Ai Weiwei (Beijing 1957– ) is an artist and social activist working in China. His
work encompasses diverse fields including visual art, architecture, publishing and
curatorial practice, cultural criticism, social media, and activism. Ai Weiwei’s work
addresses some of the most critical global issues of the early twenty-first century,
including the relationship between tradition and modernity, the role of the individual
and the state, questions of human rights, and the value of freedom of expression.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the
Arts.
The Warhol receives state arts funding support through a grant from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and The
Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset
District.
-more-
Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei, Opening in Pittsburgh June 2016 — Page 3
About The Andy Warhol Museum
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy
Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival
materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world.
The Andy Warhol Museum is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Additional information about The Warhol is available at www.warhol.org.
About Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Established 120 years ago by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is
a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie
Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol
Museum. The museums reach more than 1.3 million people a year through
exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.
About National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is the oldest and most visited gallery in
Australia. Situated over two magnificent buildings—NGV International and NGV
Australia—the Gallery hosts a wide range of international and local artists,
exhibitions, programs, and events; from contemporary art to major international
historic exhibitions, fashion and design, architecture, sound and dance.
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Phone:
412-237-8300
Hours:
Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Fri, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Mon closed
Admission:
Members free
Adults $20; Children/Students $10
Good Fridays 5 – 10 p.m., half-price museum admission
The Warhol Store/The Warhol Café – free
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