The Gardiner is thrilled to announce the launch of CLAY, an original in-house restaurant offering seasonal menus of fresh, local fare in collaboration with The Food Dudes.
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most influential artists and human rights activists, and one of China’s most formidable critics. Ai Weiwei: Unbroken features a selection of the artist's most iconic ceramics, and marks the international debut of new work. Opens February 28!
Drawing from the Gardiner’s own collection and artist Ai Weiwei’s practice in traditional Chinese craft, Dr. Maris Boyd Gillette explores how Jingdezhen porcelain has inspired ceramists to create, copy, and counterfeit its glories.
The Gardiner Museum is among the few museums in the world focused on ceramics, and is one of the most important specialty museums internationally. It houses approximately 4,000 objects, including European porcelain, ceramics from the Ancient Americas, Chinese porcelain, Japanese porcelain, and contemporary ceramics. Search the collection online!
Everyone can love clay! Become a Friend at one of the world’s great specialty museums and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited admission, invitations to exhibition previews and special events, discounts on lectures and clay classes, and more.
Co-presented with Ken Moffatt, The Jack Layton Chair, and Melanie Panitch, The Director of The Office of Social Innovation, Ryerson University
Inspired by the exhibition Ai Weiwei: Unbroken, this unique series in collaboration with Ryerson University will transform the exhibition into a site for social action. Four interdisciplinary workshops, focused on documentary media, spoken word, performance, and online journalism, will be offered free with registration. These workshops, co-led by artists, facilitators, and writers, will activate the exhibition by connecting its themes to the practice of public citizenship.
March 5: Embodied Narratives March 19: Documenting Dissent April 2: Fake News April 16: Extreme Music Therapy June 4: AWW Free School Final: 6/4/89
FREE REGISTRATION
Writer and researcher Tara Farahani (Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Community Services Artist-in-Residence at Ryerson) leads an in-gallery spoken word exercise followed by a contemplative clay session led by ceramic artist and community educator Zahra Komeylian.
Tara Farahani is a Toronto-based writer, researcher, and creative visionary. Informed by her lived-experience as an Iranian-Canadian Diaspora, she carries an inherent desire to challenge norms, ignite thoughtful dialogues, and engage in continuous learning in all walks of her professional and personal life. In 2018-2019, Tara Farahani has been appointed the Jack Layton and John C. Eaton Chair’s newest Artist-in-Residence, exploring what it means to honour our lived experience through the writing form in her project From Under the Rug.
Zahra Komeylian is a ceramics artist, educator, and social justice advocate. She holds a Master’s of Psychology in Education from Columbia University and has written and presented on the intersection of contemplative claywork and embodiment from an anti-oppressive practice lens. Zahra’s interdisciplinary art practice encompasses process-based engagement with ceramic sculpture, installation, video, and performance art.
About the exhibition
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most influential artists and human rights activists, as well as one of China’s most formidable critics. Known for smashing conventions—and ceramics—with iconic works like Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, he upends the cultural traditions and materials of his native China.
This highly-anticipated and timely exhibition explores the breaking of boundaries, both physical and symbolic, and considers how the artist’s ceramic works form a basis for his ongoing exploration of urgent social justice themes, including immigration, freedom of speech, and the repression of dissent. Learn more
Presenting Sponsor
Exhibition Partners
PHIL LIND & ELLEN ROLAND
THE ROONEY FAMILY FOUNDATION
Media Partner
Programs Sponsor
ELEANOR & FRANCIS SHEN
AWW Free School Partners
Zahra Komeylian, ASABI IV: Untitled (2018)