'It's a challenge'
Ai Weiwei took over over IWM London’s iconic atrium with his artwork, History of Bombs.
The piece covered the floor of the atrium and the exterior of the central staircase, with visitors invited to walk across and explore the artwork up close. It was the first time in history that the atrium has been given over in its entirety to an artist.
In this interview, Ai Weiwei he discusses how he developed an idea to fill this huge space and how the work explores the destructive power of bombs.
It's a challenge you know, first at beginning I thought 'I don't want to add anything into this, physically into this location' because it's quite busy location, it's meant to be a huge lobby and there's a lot of visitors and there's already existing elements there which take some space. It's quite crowded and there's basically no wall situation so I immediately think to do something, at the same time not to do something, is to use the ground surface. So you don't create physical elements but at the same time you maximize the possibility. So we come up this concept, we have been developing one idea during my long time journey since 2015, about the refugee situation. We on the side that we start to study the history of bombs, you know we start to pay attention what is the cause for the human flow? Why people have to leave their homes and then one mom explained to me, said 'you know the bombs just like a rain comes down'. So what's it like in those kind of conditions? Very, very often we see images from Afghanistan or Syria or Gaza, many, many locations, Yemen... You know, land been bombed, civilian killed or military being killed. Those are always shocking, you know, people made those kind of arms and the target with certain kind logic or ideas behind it. It happens every day - at this moment also. Not only the bombs but now they even can design the machines carries bombs with no people on it, it can be everything being programmed by computer and kill people blindly or or target people with clear information. But who made those bombs, how it's been made, when it's been made and what's the shape and what is functioning and how powerful that is? So we did it more like - not a scientific study but very close to - physical descriptions that means with no emotional judgment, just the facts. I think they maybe take a selfie put on social media and that's it then go back to drink tea or I don't know... I don't know people are serious about those issues at all, you know. You know in recent events it just happened in maybe same week the US announced the they allowed the land mines to be uh to be used again, which is unthinkable situation - land mines - and at the same time, Russia talked about the new development of the nuclear weapons. So it doesn't matter what kind of argument art piece can offer, the reality is so harsh and the cost is the human life. They all know it, you know. The purpose of designing a bomb is the casualty of the human life so...
History of Bombs
History of Bombs was part of Refugees, a free season of exhibitions, artistic commissions and immersive events taking place across IWM London and IWM North. Unlocking the personal stories of people who have been forced to flee their homes and those who work to support and care for them, Refugees gives us the space to consider our own responses to similar experiences and dilemmas.