Summary<\/p>\n
Renowned artist Ai Weiwei turns his 30-ton button collection into eight massive flags for Button Up!, a new exhibition in Manchester
\nOpening this summer, the show features \u201cEight-Nation Alliance Flags,\u201d a new body of textiles, alongside a 2D version of \u201cHistory of Bombs,\u201d composed of 3.5 million Lego bricks<\/p>\n
In 2019, Ai Weiwei bought<\/a> out the entire stock of A Brown and Co Buttons, a defunct South London textile factory, leaving many to wonder: what was the artist<\/a> planning to do with 30 tons of buttons? After the standout \u201cF.U.C.K.<\/a>\u201d installation at Lisson in 2024, Ai\u2019s fascination with the everyday object continues to unravel, and is set to take center stage in the forthcoming, aptly-titled Button Up! exhibition at Manchester\u2019s Factory International come July 2.<\/p>\n The ex-warehouse venue will host \u201cEight-Nation Alliance Flags,\u201d a new body of textiles. Made for the space, the installation probes into the history of industrialization and globalization through the fabric of material culture. Each flag is made from 9,000 buttons, meticulously sewn, netted and assembled by a team of women artisans in Shandong, China, where the collection has been stored for the last several years. Together, the bits and pieces of porcelain, cotton, glass and bronze tell a story of\u00a0 consumption in globalized world. In addition to the flags, the exhibition will debut an 80-foot 2D version of Ai\u2019s famed \u201cHistory of Bombs,\u201d made entirely of Lego bricks.\n<\/p>\n \u201cVisiting the city for this exhibition \u2013 the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution \u2013 and reflecting on Britain\u2019s global territorial expansion made me realize I had to explore that history and understand how it connects to the forces driving today\u2019s wars and global crises,\u201d the artist said in a recent statement.\n<\/p>\n The work link ideas of labor and industrial capitalism, namely between England and China, through textile history. It references the eight national alliance countries \u2013 Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and, at the time, Austria-Hungary\u2013 that invaded China to quell its 1900 Boxer Rebellion, which aimed to squash Western influence.\n<\/p>\n This question of access to clothing also hold personal significance for the artist, Low Kee Hong, the creative director of Factory International, told The Times<\/a>. While held prisoner in China, Ai waited a month to secure approval for a needle and thread to mend torn trousers, \u201cand even then armed guards came in and stood watching him\u201d.\n<\/p>\n Ai, known for pushing the envelope of activism through large-scale artworks, considers the past a clairvoyant reflection of our present and impending future: \u201cThe world today is deeply divided, with tragedy all around,\u201d he continued. Understanding history goes hand in hand with standing up for truth and justice.\u201d\n<\/p>\n