Can corporate history be art? This question can only be asked if one is not familiar with the fascinating long-term project by the Chinese artist Xiaowen Zhu. Anyone who has experienced Oriental Silk will answer this question with a clear “yes.” The project’s title is also the name of a company founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

Ai Weiwei – New York 1983–1993 documents a formative decade in the artist’s life, when he lived in New York and developed a photographic practice alongside his engagement with art, literature, and political thought.