Controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei bringing new exhibition to Brooklyn Museum

The exhibit, titled 'Ai Weiwei: According to What?' will be on view from April 18 through Aug. 10, and includes a recent work, 'S.A.C.R.E.D.,' a collection of six iron boxes that recreate in harrowing detail the claustrophobic prison cell in which Ai was illegally incarcerated for 81 days.

AI WEIWEIThe exhibit, entitled ‘Ai Weiwei: According to What?’ is on view from April 18 until Aug. 10, 2014.

From Beijing to Brooklyn.

Embattled Chinese artist Ai Weiwei — famous for his art denouncing his country’s oppressive government — is bringing his controversial works to the Brooklyn Museum for a new exhibition that will fill more than 13,000 square feet of gallery space.

The touring exhibit marks the first time the 56-year-old sculptor, photographer, painter and activist has been surveyed in North America, and includes many never-before-seen works.

The exhibit, titled “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” will be on view from April 18 through Aug. 10, and includes a recent work, “S.A.C.R.E.D.,” a collection of six iron boxes that recreate in harrowing detail the claustrophobic prison cell in which Ai was illegally incarcerated for 81 days — without having formally been charged — in 2011.

CATHY CARVERPart of the exhibition includes ‘Colored Vases,’ 2007-2010, comprised of Han Dynasty vases and industrial paint.

Museum curator Sharon Matt Atkins traveled to the Chinese capital to meet with Ai ahead of the exhibit’s arrival in Brooklyn, the last stop of its ambitious tour. "It was surreal to be there," she told the Daily News of her four-day trip. "But it was a really great opportunity to talk with him about our installation and plans for some of the new works we'll be adding to the exhibition."

Ai is perhaps best known for collaborating on the famous “bird’s nest” stadium of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but fell out of favor with the government later that year for protesting the government’s alleged shoddy construction of a school house that collapsed in an earthquake and killed thousands of students.

“Straight,” a massive work of twisted steel derived from from the collapsed Sichuan buildings and painstakingly straightened into a single beam — will also be on display, as will the artist’s famous “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” three black-and-white photographs that depict Ai smashing a priceless vase from antiquity.

COURTESY OF AI WEIWEI STUDIOAi Weiwei's 'Moon Chest,' 2008. Seven chests in Huanghuali wood.

Ai is no stranger to New York and Brooklyn: In 1983, the artist moved to Williamsburg, where he learned about such artists as Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and began exhibiting his own works.

The artist — the subject of a 2012 documentary, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” — tows the line between art and activism in a rapidly changing world. Atkins said they considered all of this when deciding to feature his work.

"For Brooklyn, we often try to think about artists whose work has been influential in a number of ways, and certainly, Ai Weiwei has had impact in contemporary art and on the international stage."

PEARL GABEL FOR NEWSThe exhibition will occupy more than 13,000 square feet inside the Brooklyn Museum.

His work most recently made headlines after a museum-goer in Miami smashed one of Ai’s “color basis” vases, valued at $1 million.

Ai said his own art of dropping a priceless urn was “very different.”

“My work is basically forbidden to be shown in China,” he told CNN last week. “My work belongs to me; it doesn’t belong to the public, and also it doesn’t (belong to) somebody else.”