Sunflower Seeds

Mediums: porcelain, black paint.
Location: private collection.

More than 1,500 people took part in the creation of the work by Ai Weiwei. These were Chinese workers from Jingdezhen province, where they produce famous Chinese porcelain. Each sunflower seed (about 100 million of them are in the installation) is made of porcelain by hand and realistically painted, which makes the seeds very similar to real ones. The work symbolizes the painstaking labour of millions of Chinese workers who get a mere penny for it and ridicules the modern consumer society. In the first days of the opening of the exhibition, visitors were allowed to walk on these seeds to understand the author’s idea more fully; however, since there was porcelain dust harmful to health, visiting the installation is no longer allowed.