{"id":267260,"date":"2025-07-16T18:33:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/267260\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T18:33:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:33:24","slug":"ai-weiwei-headlines-a-new-open-air-sculpture-exhibition-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/267260\/","title":{"rendered":"Ai Weiwei headlines a new open-air sculpture exhibition in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2018Roots: Palace\u2019 by \u00a9 Ai Weiwei Studio; Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, Lisson Gallery, and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

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\u2018Roots: Palace\u2019 by \u00a9 Ai Weiwei Studio; Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, Lisson Gallery, and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

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\u2018Looping Loop\u2019 by Andrew Sabin \u00a9. Courtesy of the artist and Brooke Benington. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

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\u2018Looping Loop\u2019 by Andrew Sabin \u00a9. Courtesy of the artist and Brooke Benington. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

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Dendrophiles by Jane and Louise Wilson \u00a9. Courtesy of Maureen Paley, London and 303 Gallery New York. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

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CAUCUS by Samuel Ross \u2013 part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City. \u00a9 Samuel Ross. Courtesy of Friedman Bena<\/p>\n

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\u2018Charles, Jiwon, Nethaneel and Elena\u2019 by Julian Opie. Part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City. \u00a9 Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

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\u2018The Garden of Floating Words\u2019 by Elisa Artesero. Part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City. Courtesy of the artist \u00a9<\/p>\n

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\u2018Temple\u2019 by Richard Mackness. Part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City \u00a9 Richard Mackness<\/p>\n

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\u2018Untitled\u2019 by Daniel Silver \u00a9. Part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City. Courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London<\/p>\n

With London\u2019s financial centre slowing for summer, a new collection of public artworks has landed on the streets to attract a different sort of denizen. The annual open-air exhibition that is Sculpture in the City<\/a> launched its 14th edition this week with three original commissions, adding to years of acquisitions on permanent view within the Square Mile. Installations by Ai Weiwei,<\/a> Andrew Sabin and Jane and Louise Wilson<\/a> explore ideas of displacement, memory and the relationship between ancient knowledge and modern technology.<\/p>\n

Located in the churchyard of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, Ai Weiwei\u2019s \u2018Roots: Palace\u2019<\/a> is a cast-iron root network resembling the form of an endangered tree. The artist joined with artisans from Brazil to mould the original shape, using a traditional \u2018lost wax\u2019 technique, calling back to early tree-felling rituals. A patina of orange rust has formed on the surface to reflect the passage of time and the crudeness of ancient methods.<\/p>\n

The contribution of artist-sisters Jane and Louise Wilson<\/a> consists of epic ink drawings on the underside of two escalators in the lobby of the Leadenhall Building. Called \u2018Dendrophiles\u2019, it plays off enhanced images of ancient DNA strands and dendro samples dating back to Roman London, when wood bridges spanned the River Walbrook.<\/p>\n

And at 70 St Mary Axe, Andrew Sabin has premiered \u2018Looping Loop<\/a>\u2018, an amorphous figure shaped in a mould of pastry margarine. The resulting piece was rendered in stone aggregate and bonded with a liquid plastic, dimpled with holes from margarine fungi.<\/p>\n

In total, 11 sculptures are on show, in situ until next spring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018Dendrophiles\u2019 by Jane and Louise Wilson \u00a9. Courtesy of Maureen Paley, London and 303 Gallery New York. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018Looping Loop\u2019 by Andrew Sabin \u00a9. Courtesy of the artist and Brooke Benington. Photography: \u00a9 Nick Turpin<\/p>\n

Read next: C\u2019mon get happy at Yinka Ilori\u2019s temporary playground in Helsinki<\/a>
\nGiant inflatable ladders pop up at Paris\u2019s newly refurbished Grand Palais<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Roots: Palace\u2019 by \u00a9 Ai Weiwei Studio; Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, Lisson Gallery, and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photography:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[101756,85234,101757,748,101758,11512,393,4884,101759,101760,257,101761,101762,101763,11102,101764,101765,101766,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-267260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-70-st-mary-axe","9":"tag-ai-weiwei","10":"tag-andrew-sabin","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-british-sculpture","13":"tag-city-of-london","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-jane-and-louise-wilson","17":"tag-leadenhall-building","18":"tag-london","19":"tag-london-art-show","20":"tag-london-summer-exhibition","21":"tag-outdoor-art","22":"tag-sculpture","23":"tag-sculpture-in-the-city","24":"tag-sculpture-trails","25":"tag-st-botolph-without-bishopsgate","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114864351665666708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}