© Aviva Studios
Ai Weiwei: Button Up!
4 July 2026 to 6 September 2026
On NowMajor Ai Weiwei installation on two centuries of Chinese-British trade and empire, staged across Aviva Studios' Warehouse with UK premieres and new Manchester commissions.
From Aviva Studios
History, power and empire collide in Button Up! – a major new exhibition from the world-leading artist and activist Ai Weiwei Internationally renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei turns his critical gaze to the last 200 years of global history with this major new exhibition. Monumental in scale and ambition, Ai Weiwei: Button Up! is the artist's most expansive presentation in the North to date. Ai Weiwei is known around the world for his uncompromising artistic vision and political activism....
Read more at Aviva Studios →Critic Reviews (3)
The Guardian
Eddy Frankel
Skeleton chandeliers, a real-life temple, and too much silly Lego
"This massive, ambitious exhibition is the Chinese artist at his most monumental, and as a result at his most effective. His subject matter works best at enormous scale, blown up, expanded, shoved in your face."
Read full review →The Times
Laura Freeman
The artist goes big, but I wanted more
"There's nothing as affecting or effective here. This is a curiously chilly exhibition. There are moments of humanity, but as Ai's work gets bigger it also gets vaguer."
Read full review →The Telegraph
Cal Revely-Calder
Ai Weiwei's art is monumental but meaningless
"But these effects, however impressive, are superficial and brief. Beyond that, Ai's work struggles for a second dimension. Toy bricks versus lethal weapons: that's irony 101."
Read full review →About the Artist
Visit
Manchester·View on artmap
Related Exhibitions
© Aviva Studios
Ai Weiwei: Button Up!
4 July 2026 to 6 September 2026
On NowMajor Ai Weiwei installation on two centuries of Chinese-British trade and empire, staged across Aviva Studios' Warehouse with UK premieres and new Manchester commissions.
From Aviva Studios
History, power and empire collide in Button Up! – a major new exhibition from the world-leading artist and activist Ai Weiwei Internationally renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei turns his critical gaze to the last 200 years of global history with this major new exhibition. Monumental in scale and ambition, Ai Weiwei: Button Up! is the artist's most expansive presentation in the North to date. Ai Weiwei is known around the world for his uncompromising artistic vision and political activism....
Read more at Aviva Studios →Critic Reviews (3)
The Guardian
Eddy Frankel
Skeleton chandeliers, a real-life temple, and too much silly Lego
"This massive, ambitious exhibition is the Chinese artist at his most monumental, and as a result at his most effective. His subject matter works best at enormous scale, blown up, expanded, shoved in your face."
Read full review →The Times
Laura Freeman
The artist goes big, but I wanted more
"There's nothing as affecting or effective here. This is a curiously chilly exhibition. There are moments of humanity, but as Ai's work gets bigger it also gets vaguer."
Read full review →The Telegraph
Cal Revely-Calder
Ai Weiwei's art is monumental but meaningless
"But these effects, however impressive, are superficial and brief. Beyond that, Ai's work struggles for a second dimension. Toy bricks versus lethal weapons: that's irony 101."
Read full review →About the Artist
Visit
Manchester·View on artmap