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M+ museum receives donations from Herzog & de Meuron including Bird's Nest stadium model

2023-03-21T13:51:00-04:00

Hong Kong's M+ museum of contemporary visual culture has announced a two-phase donation by Herzog & de Meuron, the firm behind its design.

The first phase of the donation consists of a section model of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Beijing National Stadium (in collaboration with artist Ai Weiwei), known as the “Bird’s Nest”, which was the main site at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Installation view of the National Stadium section model at the M+. Photo: Lok Cheng. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.

The second phase will include a selection of process materials from the firm’s key projects in Asia and elsewhere. This donation makes M+ the first museum in Asia to boast a significant holding of materials related to the work of Herzog & de Meuron.

Detail of the National Stadium section model. © Herzog & de Meuron. Photo: Lok Cheng. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.

The “Bird’s Nest” model is currently on display in M+’s East Galleries as part of an ongoing exhibition titled Things, Spaces, Interac...

Ai Weiwei still wants nothing to do with the Bird's Nest stadium two decades on

2022-02-07T16:47:00-05:00

Years prior to his departure from his home country, Ai famously consulted on the design of the venue hosting Friday night's opening ceremony: The Beijing National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest." But the artist distanced himself from the project and criticized China's hosting of the Olympics ahead of the opening ceremony, believing it to be a propaganda tool at odds with what he felt were the oppressive realities of life in the country.

Ai Weiwei originally conceived of the stadium as an inspirational structure that carried a message to China and the rest of the world about the potential for democracy within his home country, but the still-in-exile artist now says that the symbolic uses of the building are being warped into an instrument of state power.

Weiwei has been reiterating the same criticisms of the project he jointly designed with Herzog & de Meuron for over a decade, lamenting the IOC’s penchant for “standing next to authoritarians” and stating that the country “has gone backwards” in terms of its human rights record since its completion fourteen years ago. He was also quick to compare the misuse of his architectural output to the CCP’s presentation of his father’s legacy as a nationalistic poet.

“As an architect, my goal was the same as other architects, that is, to design it as perfectly as possible,” Weiwei told The Associated Press in a recent email statement. “The way it was used afterwards went in ...

Herzog & de Meuron named 2015 RIBA Jencks Award winners

2015-08-19T13:27:00-04:00

Herzog & de Meuron have the widest approach to architecture varying their style for each job. In this sense they epitomise the global search for an architecture of pluralism, one flexible enough for very different cultures...The high quality of the work is as notable as the wit; the amount of production as much as its personality. -RIBA President Stephen Hodder

Herzog & de Meuron, whose works include the recently approved yet controversial Tour Triangle in Paris and the redevelopment of Berlin's Tacheles cultural center, received the 2015 RIBA Jencks Award for being a practice "that has recently made a major contribution internationally to both the theory and practice of architecture." In a statement by RIBA President Stephen Hodder, he noted that "the contribution to our profession from Jacques and Pierre is constantly profound."

The award, which includes a £1,000 pound honorarium and the opportunity to deliver a lecture to RIBA chaired by Mr. Charles Jencks, will be officially presented on October 29th in London.

How To Fill An Empty Bird's Nest: Beijing's Olympic Woes

2012-07-10T13:55:00-04:00

Ai Weiwei has never set foot inside the [Bird's Nest]. He told NPR that the stadium has become entirely divorced from ordinary people. "We love this building, but we don't like the content they have put in, the kind of propaganda. They dissociated this building [from] citizens' celebration or happiness, [it's] not integrated with the city's life," Ai said. "So I told them I will never go to this building."

The attached photos were taken by me on a recent trip to Beijing.