FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 26 MAY 2015

SCULPTURE IN THE CITY ANNOUNCES ARTWORKS FOR 5th EDITION OF PUBLIC CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE EXHIBITION Artists featured will include Damien Hirst and Ai Weiwei

Damien Hirst Charity (2002-2003) Photographed by Mike Parsons © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2015

Sculpture in the City, the dynamic yearly public art exhibition in the City of London, returns this summer with a th selection of contemporary art pieces placed in and around the Square Mile. Launching on the 9 of July, the exhibition will include works from internationally renowned artists including Damien Hirst, Sigalit Landau, and Bruce Beasley. In addition, an Ai Weiwei work will be installed in September to coincide with the Royal Academy’s much anticipated exhibition of this celebrated artist. Now in its fifth year, the Sculpture in the City initiative aims to enhance our urban environment with cutting-edge contemporary works from leading artists. Set amongst London's iconic architectural landmarks, such as Norman Foster’s Gherkin, The Leadenhall Building (aka The Cheesegrater), and the Lloyd’s building by Richard Rogers, this open-air exhibition not only enriches the workday experience of City workers but draws cultural visitors into this most ancient part of the city. This year a total of fourteen works are set to transform the EC3 insurance area. Historic Leadenhall Market will again be used as a dramatic backdrop, when Adam Chodzko’s Ghost (2010), a 22 foot wooden kayak, is suspended from the ceiling of the ornate Victorian structure. The view of Damien Hirst’s monumental Charity (2002-2003), nearly seven metres tall, will be framed by St. Helen’s Church and Gherkin, whilst Japanese artist Tomoaki Suzuki’s miniature figures, modelled after real Londoners, will playfully populate the Gherkin plaza.

Two works by Kris Martin will be on show this year- Bells II (2014) will be displayed publicly for the first time on the corner of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street, and Altar (2014) also features on New York City’s The High Line. Participating artists for Sculpture in the City 2015 are: Ekkehard Altenburger (Germany); Bruce Beasley (USA); Adam Chodzko (UK); Laura Ford (UK); Damien Hirst (UK); Shan Hur (Korea); Folkert de Jong (Netherlands); Sigalit Landau (Israel); Kris Martin (Belgium); Keita Miyazaki (Japan); Tomoaki Suzuki (Japan); Xavier Veilhan (France); and Ai Weiwei (China). Free family events and tours will be held during the Archikids Festival, 25-26 July, and Open House London, 19-20 September. Complementary educational workshops, run by Open-City, will inspire schoolchildren from the local area before and after the project installation. Held in the iconic towers of the area, including The Leadenhall Building, and around the artwork sites, from St Botolphs to Great St Helen’s, and the Gherkin area down to Leadenhall Market, the programming will aid community engagement with the artworks and their surroundings. Vivienne Littlechild, Chairman of the City of London’s Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee, said: ‘I am delighted that the Square Mile will be coming alive this year with another collection of visually engaging and thoughtprovoking sculptures from leading contemporary artists. Now in its fifth year, Sculpture in the City has become a very successful partnership between the City of London Corporation, local businesses and the art world. City workers, residents and visitors are often stopped in their tracks when they see the sculptures, and it is a joy to watch how they interact with them.’ Robert Hiscox, Honorary President of Hiscox, said: ‘With 14 different artworks this year, Sculpture in the City goes from strength to strength. Love them or hate them, they will enliven your emotions and make walking round the City a better experience. I thank the artists who have lent the works and congratulate the Corporation for enabling this thoroughly worthwhile venture’. Victoria Thornton, Founding Director of Open-City, commented: ‘The aims of Open-City and Sculpture in the City are one and the same- creating a better built environment for communities to engage with. With this year’s programming, we are excited to again be helping children not only connect with their urban surroundings and some great architecture, but to learn about art at the same time’. Sculpture in the City is a unique collaboration between the City of London Corporation (the elected body which looks after the Square Mile global business district), local businesses, and the art world, providing the opportunity for new audiences to engage with established and emerging contemporary artists. The initiative is delivered through a partnership between 22 Bishopsgate, 30 St Mary Axe, Aon, Aviva, British Land, Brookfield Office Properties, Hiscox, Tower 42, Willis, and WRBC Development UK Limited, with the additional support of project patrons MTEC, Leadenhall Market, Price & Myers, and 6 Bevis Marks. With thanks to the artists and galleries: Corvi-Mora; Galerie Perrotin; Gazelli Art House; James Cohan Gallery; Marlborough Contemporary; New Art Centre; Pangolin London Sculpture Gallery; Rosenfeld Porcini; Science Ltd; Sies + Höke Galerie; White Cube; and William Benington Gallery. Sculpture in the City is facilitated and delivered by the City of London Corporation. SCULPTURE IN THE CITY 9 July 2015 – May 2016, City of London, London https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/sculptureinthecity

Sculpture in the City was a recipient of a 2014 Civic Trust Award

Previous editions of Sculpture in the City featured works by: 2011: Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie, Kenneth Armitage and Franz West 2012: Tracey Emin, Michael Craig-Martin, Angus Fairhurst, Julian Opie, Dan Graham, Thomas Houseago and Yayoi Kusama 2013: Jake & Dinos Chapman, Robert Indiana, Ryan Gander, Jim Lambie, Shirazeh Housiary, Richard Wentworth and Antony Gormley 2014: Lynn Chadwick, Jim Lambie, Julian Wild, Paul Hosking, Richard Wentworth, Joao Onofre, Ben Long, Nigel Hall and Cerith Wyn-Evans

Join the conversation #sculptureinthecity

For Press information, please contact: Danielle DeMartini, Brunswick Arts | 020 7936 1394 | [email protected]

Notes to Editors The City of London Corporation and its Arts Policy The City of London Corporation is the elected body that looks after the Square Mile global business district around St Paul’s. It adopted a City of London Arts and Culture policy in 2010 (for more about the City of London Corporation, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk). The theme of the Great St Helen's Public Art project ties into the Animation of Public Space, and to ensure delivery the City of London Corporation has changed the way it commissions and maintains public art to be more aligned with 'curating' the City. The City of London Corporation, in recognition of the new economy, is looking to partner with businesses and art institutions to deliver exciting dynamic projects, both temporary and permanent, and build a high quality permanent collection.

Working on what was formerly the Pinnacle project, Axa Real Estate and Lipton Rogers Developments recognised the outstanding opportunity presented by the 22 Bishopsgate site, and committed more than three years to evolving a new design solution. The project will have a new design with an elegant, simple façade respecting the adjoining buildings in the cluster to provide a new tower with over 1 million square feet due for completion at the end of 2018.

30 St Mary Axe, widely known as ‘The Gherkin’ is situated on the former site of The Baltic Exchange. Whilst The Gherkin isn’t the tallest structure in the City at 180m (4th tallest in the City of London) it stands for significance as an iconic landmark which is synonymous with London and its skyline. The building is only open to its residents, guests and club members but there is an incredible amount to be experienced by the general public at its landscaped pedestrian plaza. From The Sterling Winebar to its residency of KERB street food market for City workers to taste every Thursday – The Gherkin is open for all. The building was officially opened in May 2004 and awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize in October 2004. http://www.30stmaryaxe.info/

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. With more than 66,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions, and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. www.aon.com

Aviva provides life insurance, general insurance, health insurance and asset management to 34* million customers, across 16 markets worldwide. In the UK we are the leading insurer serving one in every four households and have strong businesses in selected markets in Europe, Asia and Canada. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE100 index. Aviva helps people save for the future and manage the risks of everyday life; we paid out £24.6 billion in benefits and claims in 2014. By serving our customers well, we are building a business which is strong and sustainable, which our people are proud to work for, and which makes a positive contribution to society. For an introduction to what we do and how we do it, please click here: http://www.aviva.com/about-us/aviva/ * Before the deduction of Aviva and Friends Life overlapping customers.

British Land is one of Europe’s largest publicly listed real estate companies. We own, manage, develop and finance a portfolio of high-quality commercial property, focused on retail locations around the UK and London offices and residential buildings. Our properties are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 300 million visits each year. Our objective is to deliver long-term and sustainable total returns to our shareholders. We do this by focusing on Places People Prefer. People have a choice where they work, shop and live. We create outstanding places which make a positive difference to people’s everyday lives. 50% of the 2015 Sculpture in the City education programme is funded by British Land. http://www.britishland.com/

Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY; TSX: BPY.UN) is one of the world’s largest commercial real estate companies. Our goal is to be the leading global owner, operator and investor in best-in-class commercial property assets. Our diversified portfolio includes interests in over 100 premier office properties and over 150 best-in-class retail malls around the globe. We also hold interests in multifamily, industrial, hotel and triple net lease assets through Brookfield-managed private funds. For more information, please visit www.brookfieldpropertypartners.com.

Hiscox's love of art gets into everything we do: not only do we insure it, we also collect, sponsor and promote it. We also insure homes and contents (including fine art, high-value cars, and other valuable assets and collectibles) and the liabilities and property risks of small professional businesses and events. For us insurance is a promise to pay, and we handle claims fast, fairly and with common sense. www.hiscoxgroup.com

Tower 42 is the original skyscraper occupying a prime location in the City of London at 25, Old Broad St. Designed by Richard Seifert for the National Westminster Bank, the Tower comprises 324,000 sq ft of high-quality offices. Arranged over 42 floors of 9,000 sq ft, each are divisible into 3 self-contained leaves of 3,000 sq ft, offering the most flexible leasing options in the City. The building was opened by the Queen in June 1981 and is now the home of over 50 international tenants from a wide range of businesses located in the heart of the City. http://www.tower42.com/

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global risk advisor, insurance and reinsurance broker. Started in 1828, today Willis operates on every continent with more than 18,000 employees in over 400 offices. Willis offers its clients superior expertise, teamwork, innovation and market-leading products and professional services in risk management and transfer. Our experts rank among the world’s leading authorities on analytics, modelling and mitigation strategies at the intersection of global commerce and extreme events. Find more information on our website, www.Willis.com, in our leadership journal, Resilience, or on our up-to-the-minute blog on breaking news, WilllisWire. Across geographies, industries and specialisms, Willis provides its local and multinational clients with resilience for a risky world.

Founded in 1967, the W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the United States. It operates in three segments of the property casualty business: Insurance-Domestic, InsuranceInternational and Reinsurance-Global. http://www.wrberkley.com

2015 List of Artworks

Ekkehard Altenburger Red Atlas 2012 Red and black granite with rubber joints H 270 cm 225 kg

Bruce Beasley Breakout II 1992 Bronze H 145 x W 229 x D 61 cm 200 kg

Adam Chodzko Ghost 2010 Alaskan yellow cedar, western red cedar, Fijan mahogany, oak, ash, olive and walnut and mixed media H 22 in x W 31 in x L 22 ft 100 kg

Laura Ford Day of Judgement- Cats 1 & 2 2012 Bronze 106 x 203 x 100 / 106 x 230 x 100 cm 120 kg

Ghost Archive (30th May 2015, The Thames. Ferrying Robert Hiscox, Hon President of Hiscox and Karina Isajeva, caterer at Hiscox) Single screen video with sound 17 minutes

Damien Hirst Charity 2002-2003 Painted bronze 6858 x 2438 x 2438 mm 3800 kg

Shan Hur Broken Pillar #12 2015 Concrete- finishing: marbling plate; gloss H 360 cm 250 kg

Folkert de Jong Old DNA 2014 Patinated bronze 210 x 80 x 50 cm 200 kg

Sigalit Landau ‘O my friends, there are no friends’ 2011 Twelve pairs of bronze shoes 300 cm diameter circle 30/40 kg

Kris Martin Altar 2014 Raw Steel 3.5 m x 4.6 m 800 kg

Kris Martin Bells II 2014 Bronze 160 x 320 x 160 cm 935 kg

Keita Miyazaki Organisms of Control #8 2014 Car parts, resin, urethane colour, stainless steel, speaker system H 330 x W 115 x D 70 cm 120 kg

Tomoaki Suzuki Carson, Zezi, Emma, Takashi, Nia 2012-2013 Painted bronze 56 x 17.5 x10 cm; 56.5 x 25 x 11 cm; 51 x 15 x 10 cm; 51 x 17 x 13.5 cm; 54 x 15.5 x 9 cm 200kg total/40kg each

Xavier Veilhan Rays (London) 2015 Stainless steel Variable- 300 x 2200 x 200 cm 20 kg per yarn

Ai Weiwei TBA (September install)

Artist Biographies

Ekkehard Altenburger German sculptor Ekkehard Altenburger grew up on a farm on the German/Swiss border, and has been based in the UK since 1995. Initially working as a Master Mason at the Gothic Cathedral of Schwabisch Gmuend in South Germany for 4 years, he began his academic studies in 1991, studying sculpture at Bremen's Hochschule fuer Kuenste and later at Edinburgh College of Art. In 1999 he completed his studies with an MA from the Chelsea College of Art in London. In 2001 he met and filmed the 94 year old architect Oscar Niemeyer, which indelibly informed his future work. Taking inspiration from Architecture and the urban environment, Altenburger’s preference is to work with heavy materials. Producing pieces in steel, stone and recently rubber he seeks to explore and encapsulate the physical balance of the built environment as well the sculptural volumes of these physical materials. Often using texture and colour to manipulate surfaces, he strives to add further layers of sculptural information to create a relationship and balance between form and the surface of his work. Altenburger’s UK commissions can be found in the public domain where he has produced site-specific pieces for private and public clients. He has worked throughout Europe and also recently completed a piece in Central America. His work has been shown extensively in Europe and overseas, with recent exhibits including SKULPTUR at Museum Rehmann, Switzerland; Sculpture at Glyndebourne 2011; London’s Royal Academy Summer Shows 2011-2013; Designfestival Clerkenwell, London 2014; and SCULPTURAL2015 at Coombe Trenchard, UK. Altenburger is currently working on a large-scale sculpture commission for Volkswagen UK.

Bruce Beasley Bruce Beasley is recognized as one of the most noteworthy and innovative sculptors on the American West Coast. His intersecting cuboid forms are reminiscent of natural crystalline structures, with sumptuous patinas adding to their organic essence. By breaking out of an expected pattern, his sculpture also has roots in early Modernism, which aimed to reassess the confines of the cube. Spaces are created that can be vigorously experienced, manipulating mass and volume in order to construct the impression of silence or movement. Perhaps surprisingly, Beasley’s sculptures originate in digital three-dimensional design software, which allows him to devise his forms without the constraints of gravity; the shapes are later translated into solid bronze. Despite this highly technical process, the natural world is remains Beasley’s inspiration, as he explains: “Nature arrives at this perfect point between change and stillness, between form that is evolving and form that is complete; nature does this most easily and with rare mistakes. Nature remains the ideal guide and the great resource; without it, there is no warmth, no heart and I insist that my work have both”. Beasley’s monumental work has been exhibited worldwide in solo and group exhibitions, receiving international acclaim. In 2005, his works were shown in a major retrospective at the Oakland Museum of California and in 2012, Pangolin London hosted the first major solo show in Europe by Beasley since his exhibition in 1995 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Adam Chodzko Adam Chodzko's work weaves new relationships between our value and belief systems, exploring their effect on our communal and private spaces through the documents and fictions that control, describe and guide them. Working directly with the networks of people and places that surround him, often using forms of anthropology, Chodzko focuses on the relational politics of culture's edges, endings, displacements, transitions and disappearances through provocatively looking in the 'wrong' places" - a search for knowledge through instability. Chodzko operates in the tight, poetic spaces between documentary and fantasy, conceptualism and surrealism, public and private space, often engaging reflexively and directly with the role of the viewer. He has exhibited extensively in international solo and group exhibitions including: Tate, St Ives; Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna (MAMBo); Istanbul Biennale, Venice Biennale; Deste Foundation, Athens; PS1, New York; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

Laura Ford Laura Ford is well-known for her portrayals of animals, with which she explores aspects of the human condition. Her bronze sculptures presented here are from a recent series called ‘Days of Judgement’, for which her starting point was Masaccio’s fresco ‘The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden’ (1425) in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence. In Ford’s postlapsarian vision, however, Adam and Eve are reconfigured as a group of very tall, skinny cats. Pacing around in various states of deep thought, these cats appear like a group of existential poets gripped by their own inner anxieties; with their featureless faces they have an uncanny blankness onto which we can project our own fears and concerns. Ford (b. 1961) studied at Bath Academy of Art from 1978–82. She was included in New Contemporaries, The Sculpture Show at the Hayward and Serpentine Galleries and The British Art Show 5 amongst many other group and solo exhibitions. In 2005,

she represented Wales at the Venice Biennale. Ford has work in major collections around the world and recently completed two major public commissions in Bristol and Heidelberg. A major new exhibition of her work is at Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham this summer.

Damien Hirst Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. He studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths college from 1986 to 1989, and whilst in his second year, he conceived and curated a group exhibition entitled ‘Freeze’. The show is commonly acknowledged to have been the launching point not only for Hirst, but for a generation of British artists. Since the late 1980s, Hirst has used a varied practice of installation, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationships between art, beauty, religion, science, life and death. Through work that includes the iconic shark in formaldehyde, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) and For the Love of God (2007), a platinum cast of a skull set with 8,601 flawless pavé-set diamonds, he investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems, and dissects the uncertainties at the heart of human experience. Hirst lives and works in London, Devon and Gloucester. Since 1987, over 80 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions have taken place worldwide, and his work has been included in over 300 group shows. His solo exhibitions include Qatar Museums Authority, ALRIWAQ Doha (2013-2014); Tate Modern, London (2012); Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (2010); Oceanographic Museum, Monaco (2010); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008); Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2005); Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (2004), amongst others. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1995.

Shan Hur Fascinated by the moment of transition when a particular space is reconfigured for a new purpose, Korean-born, Londonbased sculptor Shan Hur can be recognised by his signature cracked columns and sculptural interventions. Often concealing unexpected items of treasure, the artist's work is inspired by his careful examination of construction sites. Hur disrupts the viewer’s perception of the gallery space acting as a white cube or art container, by directly implicating the gallery as an active element in the artwork itself. Often incorporating found objects and antiquities within the sculptures, his practice underlines the significance and historical references retained through traditional objects, and the conjunctions and meanings we attach to our surroundings. Born in 1980 in Seoul, Korea, Hur holds an M.F.A from Slade (2010) and a B.F.A in Sculpture from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (2007). His work is held in the British Art Collection and some recent awards include ‘Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award’, London U.K. (2013), Oriel Davies Open 2012 Newtown Wales, UK Finalist, and ‘The Open West’, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK- 1st Award, ‘Art Catlin’ Finalist (2011).

Folkert de Jong Dutch artist Folkert de Jong is internationally recognized for figurative sculptures—executed in the inorganic industrial materials of styrofoam and polyurethane—that mine issues of empire, trauma and myth. Old DNA (2014), displayed in Sculpture in the City 2015, is among the first works De Jong has created in cast bronze, engaging explicitly in the history of the monument and public art. Originating in a 3D scan of a suit of armor belonging to the aging Henry VIII in the permanent collection of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, Old DNA depicts a top-heavy cannonball of a man, with legs that hollow out from the back. An external nervous system or energy field running around the figure—derived from casting channels that would typically be clipped off the work before completion—is exposed, unprotected. The work is a psychological portrait of power and the way it can endure and decay, executed with wild material ambition. As a public monument, it occupies a peculiar factual space: “the scene De Jong creates does not feel like an official history,” writes curator Sam Lackey of the Hepworth Wakefield museum, co-commissioners of the original work, “but rather a hidden or unseen moment—an uncovered conspiracy from the past.” De Jong (born 1972, Egmond aan Zee) has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Hepworth Wakefield,Yorkshire; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Musée d’Évreux, Normandy; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Middelheim, Antwerp; and the Musée d’art Contemporain, Rocheouart.

Sigalit Landau Sigalit Landau (born Jerusalem, 1969) is one of the most important Israeli artists working today. She graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 1994. She first represented Israel at the Venice Biennale in 1997 in a group presentation, followed by a solo presentation in the pavilion in 2011. Landau has featured in numerous exhibitions and museums, such as Documenta X in 1997 and MoMA, New York in 2008. Her work is found in many major collections, including MoMA and Centre Pompidou. She was recently the subject of a retrospective survey at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona.

Kris Martin Kris Martin was born in 1972 and is based in Ghent, Belgium. Kris Martin's ephemeral interventions and his diverse use of found materials - from antique relics to natural or highly engineered objects - create a space of uncertainty and existential questioning. Often humorous and playful, despite a profound sense of spiritual and philosophical enquiry, his work is as likely to provoke a state of mind as it is to create a visual experience. Martin presents two works in Sculpture in the City, both found objects lifted from a religious context: Bells II, and Altar. With the repositioning of these two highly charged, spiritually symbolic objects, Martin asks us to seek new value and meaning from our everyday urban experience.

Keita Miyazaki Keita Miyazaki lives and works between Japan and London. The artist recently completed a PhD in craft metal casting in Tokyo. Miyazaki studied at Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan (2003-2015) and at the Royal College of Art, UK (2011- 2013). His sculptures were most recently exhibited at the Daiwa Foudation in London and were also featured in the exhibition ‘Sound and Vision’ (summer 2014) in London at the rosenfeld porcini gallery; the artist has also previously exhibited works in solo and group shows in the UK and Japan, including exhibitions at Ai Gallery, Aoyama Spiral Hall and Mori Arts Centre in Japan and at the Void Art Gallery in the UK. Miyazaki was selected as one of the featured artists – alongside Joan Miró, Jaume Plensa, Karl Karner, Steven Naifeh, to name but a few – for the ‘By the Waterside’ programme at Art International in Istanbul (2014). In 2007 Miyazaki won The Government of Tokyo Prize for his BA Show at Tokyo University of the Arts. Following this award his work was selected for the public collection of Ogi Kankou Ltd and his work was displayed as a public artwork on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. He has also won the Haruji Naitou Prize and Ataka Prize from Tokyo University of Arts, Japan. Miyazaki’s work is also in numerous private collections in the UK. Tomoaki Suzuki Japanese artist Tomoaki Suzuki’s diminutive sculptures put a decidedly contemporary twist on the millennia-long tradition of Japanese woodcarving. Drawing on his life in London, Suzuki creates painstakingly detailed portraits of diverse urban youths at one-third their actual size. Suzuki began his training at Tokyo Zokei University, where he learned the fundamental principles of figurative sculpture. The artist’s work documents consumer culture and the quickly shifting trends driven by ready access to fast fashion and recycled clothing. The expressive ensembles worn by his models provide insight into their character. Largely disinterested in gestural or emotive expression, Suzuki strives to articulate his models’ identities—as he believes they do—through their personal style. The artist maintains that by working in small scale he is able to focus his attention on the figures in a way that would not be possible on a larger scale. Plus, because of their size, the figures physically draw the viewer in and down to their level, and yet in spite of their size, the sculptures have a powerful presence.

Xavier Veilhan Xavier Veilhan’s sculptural interventions are bold and transfixing, while complementing existing architecture and altering how viewers look at their surroundings. His “Architectones” series (2012-2014) pays tribute to Kasimir Malevich's "Architectons", his three-dimensional suprematist models. For this project Veilhan installed sculptures in celebrated, modernist homes across the world; each work was unique to the setting and placed in dialogue with the building’s architecture. A sixty-foot bust of Le Corbusier was set atop the architect’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille, for example. Through faceted, distorted shapes, Veilhan’s structures capture energy by revealing the movement surrounding them. In 2009, Veilhan’s work was displayed in the Palace of Versailles and its gardens, juxtaposing traditional architecture against minimalist, futurist-inspired sculpture or installation, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the former. Rays (London) is part of Xavier Veilhan’s ongoing “Rays” series. Designed for the Willis Plaza, the artwork frames and questions the views of the City opened up by recent construction activity. The artist has been working since 2011 on this series formulated as a tribute to Jesús Rafael Soto and Fred Sandback. Dealing with the possibilities of representation and the question of display —two important issues in his practice— these works create immersive and optical environments that play with scale, light, shadow and architecture. They have been presented in numerous institutions and public spaces, including Le Corbusier’s “Cité Radieuse” in Marseille, the Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles (USA), Hatfield House (UK), La Conservera in Murcia (Spain), and French architects Claude Parent and Paul Virilio's Sainte-Bernadette-du-Banlay church in Nevers (France).

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and social critic. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics.

Ai Weiwei positions himself in and out of his Beijing studio as a cultural arbiter. Compelled by a sense of social conscience, his artistic practice extends across many roles, from filmmaker and photographer, to writer, publisher, curator and architect. As an heir to Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, yet digging deep into Chinese heritage, he moves freely between a variety of formal languages, and reflecting on contemporary geopolitics. Ai distils ancient and modern aesthetics in works of salvage or iconoclasm. He is one of the leading cultural figures to affect social change through his art. He serves as an example for legitimate social criticism and free expression both in China and internationally. Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, where he lives and works. He attended Beijing Film Academy and later, on moving to New York (1981–1993), continued his studies at the Parsons School of Design. Major solo exhibitions include Royal Academy (2015), Martin Gropius Bau (2014), Indianapolis Museum of Art (2013), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. (2012), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan (2011), Tate Modern, London (2010) and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2009). Architectural collaborations include the 2012 Serpentine Pavilion and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium, with Herzog and de Meuron. Among numerous awards and honours, he won the lifetime achievement award from the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards in 2008 and the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation, New York in 2012; he was made Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2011.