Ai Weiwei to Create Major New Public Artwork for MCA

Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei has spent more than four decades using sculpture, film, architecture, writing and social media to move hearts, change minds and challenge authority. He first found critical acclaim with works such as Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn and Study of Perspective (both 1995), before reaching a global audience with large-scale installations and architectural projects. These include co-designing the iconic ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics with architects Herzog & de Meuron, and filling Tate’s Turbine Hall with 100 million handmade porcelain Sunflower Seeds in 2010.

Australian audiences will know Weiwei from Law of the Journey (2017), shown as part of the 21st Biennale of Sydney in 2018, and from exhibitions in galleries across the country. His most recent works respond to his experiences travelling through conflict-affected regions in Ukraine. His new commission for the Tallawoladah Lawn is set to be among the most thought-provoking and impactful public artworks presented in Australia in 2026.

“To be invited to participate in the MCA’s commissioned creation of an artwork is a great honour, and it filled me with excitement,” Weiwei said.

MCA Australia Director Suzanne Cotter said the selection of Weiwei reflected the principles of the Commission — to deliver significant, statement-making contemporary art created especially for the public domain — and the museum’s ongoing ambition to bring the work of the world’s best living artists to Australia.

“Ai Weiwei is an artist whose voice resonates far beyond the art world,” Cotter said. “This Commission will be an important moment for Sydney — ambitious in scale, profound in message, and will engage everyone who visits this iconic location.”

Hamish Balnaves, CEO of The Balnaves Foundation, said: “The Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission was established to ensure Australians could have meaningful interactions with artists of global standing through accessible public art. Ai Weiwei exemplifies everything this Commission stands for: his practice challenges us to think deeply about humanity, power and responsibility. This Commission honours my father Neil Balnaves’ belief that art should be ambitious, accessible to all and capable of shaping how we see the world.”

About the Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission

Supported by The Balnaves Foundation in honour of philanthropist Neil Balnaves AO (1944–2022), the Commission brings world-class contemporary sculpture to the public each year from 2025 to 2028 — free and accessible to all — in a place of deep cultural and historical significance. The inaugural Commission opened in September 2025 with British artist Thomas J Price’s striking work Ancient Feelings. Ai Weiwei is the second artist to be awarded the annual commission.

Image: Portrait of Ai Weiwei 2018, image courtesy and © Ai Weiwei Studio