Zhou Yan Contemporary Chinese Art Archive 周彦当代中国艺术档案
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Date
2006
Format
Other
Materials
Pu’er tea leaves with wooden base
Dimensions
100 x 100 x 100 cm (39 1/2 x 39 1/2 x 39 1/2 in)
Description
Ton of Tea consists of a ton of compressed Pu'er tea from China's Yunnan Province, shaped into a cube with a volume of one cubic meter. For centuries, tea has been an important commodity and everyday consumable in Chinese culture, traditionally compressed into bricks for easier storage and transportation. Its simple geometric form is reminiscent of Western Minimalist sculpture. By using tea as material, Ai again explores the relationship between the established meanings of ordinary objects and contemporary artistic expression. (Source: Martin Schulze (2019-09-18). Why Did Ai Weiwei Create This Giant Tea Cube? Retrieved from https://publicdelivery.org/ai-weiwei-ton-of-tea/) (Yida Du ’29)
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