In The banquet of the emperor, the exhibition of Galería La Cometa, which brings for the first time Weiwei’s work to Colombia, the artist assembles an industrial product typical of the modern world, such as LEGO toys. The exhibition reflects around the millenary history of the Chinese Zodiac, creating a series of zodiacal pieces that are artificial replicas of celestial elements. By using the thousands of colorful bricks that many of us have played with, Weiwei expands the tools to assemble with more precision a version of the past and redefines, not only the industrial processes which are used to produce goods but the mythical story that gave birth to the Chinese Zodiac, subverting its history and nature.

Based on the ancient legend, the twelve animals, their astrological order, their zodiacal glow, are celestial elements called by the Emperor to an asumptuous banquet whose cosmic energies take shape year after year in our perception of the world. Ai Weiwei, by placing each animal in some cities of his famous photographic series from Study of Perspective (1995- 2011), plays with those meanings and characteristics. At the same time, he invites us to play as spectators through a relationship between abstract and figurative, closeness and distance, between ancient and modern, China and the West, celestial and earthly.

Welcome to The banquet of the emperor, where the ancient sprouts, where thousands of LEGO pieces and thousands of years forms the sensible cycle, the millennial upheaval, the source of it all.

Simón Henao

Alba Delgado