About the artwork
Coca-Cola Vase combines the form of a traditional Chinese vessel with the globally recognized Coca-Cola script. Cast in glass,the object replaces the material authority of antiquity with transparency and industrial branding. The collision is intentionally direct: cultural heritage,commodity identity and systems of value occupy the same fragile form.
The stated technique is cast glass. It measures approximately 21.2 × 19 × 19 cm. The cast glass produces a smooth,translucent body whose reflections change with the surrounding light. The familiar red commercial script sits directly on the vessel form,making material,silhouette and applied branding equally important to the object’s appearance.
Expert opinion
The work extends Ai’s long-running examination of cultural value through the alteration of vessel forms. Coca-Cola’s commercial script interrupts the authority associated with Chinese antiquity,while transparent glass makes the object appear both precious and unstable. The sculpture does not resolve the encounter between heritage and global consumption; it makes that collision its central subject.
As a work by Ai Weiwei,Coca Cola Vase is notable because it makes cultural memory,commercial identity and the construction of value visible in one object.
About the artist
Ai Weiwei (born 1957 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese artist and activist living and working in Berlin, Cambridge, and Portugal. He studied animation at the Beijing Film Academy and became a founding member of the Stars Art Group in 1979, which challenged artistic restrictions in post-Mao China. After moving to New York in 1981, he engaged with Western art movements, particularly conceptual art and minimalism. Returning to China in the early 1990s, Ai established himself as a key figure in contemporary art with a multidisciplinary practice that includes sculpture, installation, photography, architecture, social media, and filmmaking. His work often utilizes everyday materials such as Lego bricks, porcelain, and found objects to address themes of identity, history, human rights, and state control. Notable projects include installations like Sunflower Seeds and Straight, which reflect on significant social issues. Ai's outspoken criticism of the Chinese government led to his arrest and imprisonment in 2011, increasing his international visibility. His works are part of major collections in institutions such as the Tate, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou.
Additional info
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