Cubic Meter Food Cart
Inspired by the function, economics, and history of Gwangju’s pojangmachas, Ai Weiwei’s Cubic Meter Food Cart reflects on the role these “tented wagons” to instigate a discussion about public space : how does the city reconcile restricting these small, temporary, and useful structures while allowing the construction of massive permanent buildings?


Selected Activities
2010 | Digital Activism in China: A discussion with Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter) and Richard · MacManus, The Paley Media Center, New York, U.S. International Culture festival Litcologne, talk with Nobel Prize winner Herta Muller, in Cologne, Germany. |
2008 | Curator of the architecture project Ordos 100 “Citizen Investigation” project, researching information about the students that died in the Earthquake in Sichuan on May 12th, 2008 |
2007 | participation in Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany. For his project “Fairytale” he invited 1001 Chinese citizens to Kassel |
2003-2008 | Commissioned to design the Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Stadium together with Herzog & de Meuron, finished construction in 2008. |
2003 | Founded the architecture studio FAKE Design, Beijing. |
2002 | Curator of the project Jinhua Architectural Art Park, Jinhua, China. |
2000 | Curator of the exhibition Fuck Off, in Shanghai, together with Feng Boyi. |
1999 | moved to Chaochangdi in the northeast of Beijing and build the studio house, his first architectural project |
1997 | co-founder and Artistic Director of China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), Beijing |
1994-1997 | Published Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Grey Cover Book (1997) |
1993 | return to Beijing |
1981-1993 | lived in USA, mainly New York |
1982 | Parsons School of Design, New York |
1978 | enrolled at the Beijing Film Academy | Co-founder of the avant-garde art group the Stars |
1957 | born in Beijing, China |
Most Recent Solo Exhibitions
2010 | Ai Weiwei, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, USA Barely something, Stiftung DKM, Duisburg, Germany Dropping the Urn, ceramics 5000 BCE – 2010 CE, Arcadia University Gallery, Glenside, USA |
2009 | With Milk_find something everybody can use, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain World Map, Faurschou Gallery, Beijing, China So sorry, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany According to What?, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan Ways Beyond Art, Ivory Press Space, Madrid, Spain Four Movements, Phillips de Pury, London, UK Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs |
1983-1993 | Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China |
