A large porcelain sculpture by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei that was on display at a museum in Bologna, Italy, was vandalized and smashed to pieces by a man on Friday.
Ai took to her Instagram to share security camera footage of the vandalism at the artwork, titled “Porcelain Cube,” as well as a video of a suspect being arrested outside the Palazzo Fava museum, and sent a message to those who vandalize artworks.
“You are literally ruining what makes our world beautiful and cultural. Instead of destroying things that belong in museums, why not destroy things that are actually harming the earth and society?” wrote Ai, a vocal critic of the Chinese government who has been effectively exiled from the country.
“Piss on the doorstep of the rich subversive industry that harms us all,” he continued. “Stop destroying our shared history and fight the people who are actually oppressing you.”
Security camera footage shows the man, whose motives are unclear, smashing Ai’s blue and white porcelain sculpture and holding the shards over his head before being subdued by museum security guards.
Ai told The New York Times she was shocked that someone would vandalize such a large sculpture.
“I was surprised when I found out that it was my large porcelain artwork that was destroyed,” he said. “I never imagined that a piece weighing nearly 100 kilograms could be broken so easily.”
Local news outlets and art publications identified the perpetrator as Vaclav Pisvejc, a Czech-born artist known for similar acts. According to Art Review magazine, in 2018, Pisvejc attacked renowned artist Marina Abramovic at a book signing, hitting her over the head with one of his canvases, saying he “had no choice but to do it for my art.”
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Arturo Galansino, curator of the Bologna “Eye” exhibition, told The Times he was saddened by the lost artworks and didn’t believe the vandals were people seeking recognition.
“He’s someone who likes to be in the spotlight by having exhibitions and interacting with artists from around the world,” he said.
This is not the first time Ai’s work has been vandalized: in 2014, a visitor to Miami’s Pérez Art Museum picked up a vase that was on display by Ai and threw it to the ground, shattering it in an apparent act of protest.
Ai has also destroyed relics in the name of art: in 1995 he was photographed dropping and shattering a 2,000-year-old Han dynasty vase. In response to the outrage, Ai said, “Chairman Mao Zedong often said that only by destroying the old world can we build a new one.”
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