U.K.’s Tate Gallery buys Ai Weiwei’s ‘Sunflower Seeds’

LONDON (AFP) ― Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has sold part of his “Sunflower Seeds” installation to Britain’s Tate Gallery, it said on Monday.

The London gallery has bought around eight million of the 100 million porcelain seeds, which covered the floor of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2010, for an undisclosed figure.

The public was initially able to walk over the 1,000-square-meter carpet of seeds when they went on show, but the work was later cordoned off when dust created by the porcelain raised health fears.

“The 10 tonnes of seeds can be displayed in the form of a one-and-a-half meter high conical sculpture, stretching five meters in diameter, or as a 10 centimeter-deep square or rectangle,” the Tate said in a statement.

The Tate Modern displayed the eight million seeds in the cone shape from June until last month.

Ai, whose activism has made him a thorn in the side of China’s communist authorities, was held in custody for 81 days last year as police rounded up dissidents amid online calls for Arab Spring-style protests in China.

Upon his release in June, the 54-year-old was charged with tax evasion, charges he maintains are politically motivated attempts to silence him.

The gallery said the seeds, which were individually hand-made by artisans in Jingdezhen, eastern China, carried associations of the Cultural Revolution, the chaotic period of Chinese politics between 1966 and 1976.

“Propaganda images depicted Chairman Mao as the sun with the mass of people as sunflowers turning towards him,” the Tate said.

Sunflower seeds are a popular street snack in China, while porcelain has traditionally been one of the country’s most prized exports.