Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads opens today at the Portland Art Museum. It is a work of 12 sculptures; each is an animal in the Chinese zodiac.
It is inspired by a similar set created as a fountain, with the water flow representing a clock, at the Summer Palace. The originals were looted by French and English troops at the end of the Second Opium War. The palace was burned.
Ai Weiwei is the leading political artist in China. He was imprisoned in 2011 for almost three months for his work and is prohibited from traveling outside the country today. The story of the original works, their cultural sensitivity, and Weiwei's interpretation is told in a video on the project website: www.zodiacheads.com.
Portland, the site at one time of the second largest Chinatown on the West Coast, is fortunate to be visited by the sculptures. It is a great opportunity to learn about the artist and his other works.
The show continues until September 23. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park. Regular Museum hours and admission
Daniel H. Wilson is a robotics engineer turned novelist on robot themes. He gives a talk this afternoon in Portland's tiniest public library on robot futures. Admission available 30 minutes in advance of the talk. multcolib.org/events/author-talk-daniel-h-wilson/43330 NW branch of the Multnomah County Library 2300 NW Thurman Talk 3 Free
Xhurch has a leisurely chill musical panorama today curated by Caitlin King with Betony Palm, Black Jaw, Brian Levin, Jai Milx, Joshua Convey, Numbskull, Procedural Sky, Thunderfoot, Very Rare Artifacts and Scott Mayoral. There is a BBQ potluck starting a little earlier and maybe running coincidently. Be gracious, the venue is in a residential neighborhood. At Xhurch xhurch.net 4550 NE 20th. Music 5PM-10ish Free
