Ai Weiwei is also an Architect

In the context of the exhibition Ai Weiwei – Interlacing and in cooperation with the Haus der Architektur Graz

Although Ai Weiwei had already successfully realized more than 60 different building projects, three years ago, he and his team Fake Design decided to take on no further commissions. They had come to find the process of official authorization and the waste of creative energy invested in unrealized projects to be too frustrating and disappointing. They have sometimes made an exception, but then they decided to accompany the undertaking in a different way – to curate it.
And indeed: As a showcase for democracy and diversity, architecture can also encourage debate. Especially in China.

6pm: commented walk through the exhibition Ai Weiwei with Mathieu Wellner, Kunsthaus Graz, meeting point in the lobby. The exhibition is open from 5-7pm with free admission.
7pm: lecture, Haus der Architektur Graz 

Mathieu Wellner (b. 1972, Paris) was trained as an architect and curator. He studied architecture in Brussels. In 2002, he moved to Munich where he worked on numerous projects, exhibitions and publications. From 2006 to 2010 he was in charge of the architectural projects at the Haus der Kunst, including being responsible for Ai Weiwei’s projects for the exhibition "so sorry" and working on a study about the Haus der Kunst by Rem Koolhaas together with Herzog & de Meuron. Since 2010, he has also worked at the institute for architectural theory at the University of Innsbruck and in cooperation with the Technion in Haifa on an exhibition and publication about the Israeli architect Leopold Gerstel (1925-2010). He is co-founder of the Q+A-panels in Munich and is finishing a book about transitions entitled "transitory". He has made numerous publications, exhibitions, talks and lectures on architecture, urban planning and culture.