Explore Ai Weiwei 360

Ai Weiwei’s Royal Academy show was so popular that even a round-the-clock opening couldn’t get everyone in.

So The Space teamed up with the RA to create a virtual reality experience that lets you see it online. Anytime, anywhere, in 3D.

You can explore Ai Weiwei 360 on your desktop, tablet, smartphone or virtual reality headset. It’s the first exhibition to be captured in photorealistic stereoscopic 3D – so you can look at each work in detail as you move around the virtual galleries.

Watch Ai Weiwei’s film of the aftermath of the Szechuan earthquake and see Straight, the artwork that challenged censorship by listing the names of everyone who died in the disaster  – including over 5,000 schoolchildren.

Look through the window of the cell where Weiwei was held for campaigning on issues like the Szechuan quake in Sacred. Or admire the Bicycle Chandelier, a sculpture made from bikes and crystals to celebrate the freedom that bicycles brought to the Chinese people.

Introduced by Julian Assange, Ai Weiwei 360 includes interviews with Ai Weiwei himself, and expert commentary from his co-curators, Royal Academy Artistic Director Tim Marlow and Senior Curator Adrian Locke.

It also features videos that explore the events behind the artworks, and a voiceover from Jon Snow.

Explore at your own pace, at home or on the move.

In 2016, the Ai Weiwei 360 experience was shortlisted for the prestigious Japan Prize in the Creative Frontier category.

More Information

To find out how an audience was reached for this project, refer to our ‘Finding an Audience‘ guide, for insights into why and how Ai Weiwei 360 came to life online read ‘Virtual gallery. Visit whilst you’re sitting at home‘ and for a full case study read Ai Weiwei 360: bringing a landmark exhibition to online audiences from our resources section.

About this artist

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist, and was the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. The Royal Academy of Arts’ Ai Weiwei spans twenty years of his career, and is the UK’s first major exhibition of his work. Ai Weiwei 360 is available on the Royal Academy of Arts website and BBC Taster. It was commissioned by The Space in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts and produced by AVM. It contains excerpts from the Royal Academy of Arts’ Ai Weiwei audio tour, produced by Antenna International. https://twitter.com/aiww