The Works of Ai Wei Wei Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Works of Ai Wei Wei - Essay Example I believe that he is trying to tell that we can create beauty out of everyday ordinary things and that they could represent a bigger and grander idea. According to Wei Wei, our respective culture is the context and â€Å"lens† by which we see and interpret the world. Thus, we assign a value to images and symbols differently. One may be important to other culture while it may be without meaning to other cultures. We can cite the example of Wei Wei’s sunflower seeds as an example. For the outsider, one may see it as a literal sunflower seed that at the beginning of the video, some of Wei Wei’s audience even tasted it to check if it is real. To the Chinese however, especially those who lived during the revolution and the time of Chairman Mao Zedong, the sunflower seeds meant something else. It is not just seeds of a sunflower but represented the number of people that supported the revolution. The seeds were so many because the ordinary people of China that supported the Chairman were also so many. As an artist, Ai Wei Wei viewed his role as someone who challenges his audience to ask new questions. He wants to create as an artist, the basic structure which can be open to possibilities. His artworks have political connotations also and Wei Wei would like his audience to engage them with his artworks as a medium to instigate curiosity that would foster understanding and hope to make it a happier place just like the seed makers in Wei Wei’s artwork who were happy to do create the porcelain sunflower seeds because it gives them livelihood and meaning. Ai Wei Wei’s artworks are not just for an aesthetic purpose that conveys beauty where its audience can appreciate the joy in the magnificence of their artwork. If one would examine closely, Wei Wei’s artwork has political significance and invites the audience to ask questions.  

ACOLYPSE LITERATURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ACOLYPSE LITERATURE - Essay Example The Apocalypse of Abraham is one where the author is not known at present. As a result of this, there have also been several problems in ascertaining its history over a period of time. There have been problems and as a result of this, there was considerable interest in retrieving dates at the very start of its history. The problems that were a part of the ascertaining of the history of this book caused the whole study of it to be disposed of after a certain period of time according to theorists like Robert G. Hall who feel that there has been a â€Å"Christian Interpolation† which introduces certain problems in the interpretation of the figure of Christ (1988, 107). Andrei A. Orlov on the other hand, finds certain strands of Merkabah mysticism in the Apocalypse of Abraham and this can be considered to be one of the reasons as to why these works are considered to be a great part of the traditions of Judaism. Merkabah mysticism is â€Å"the Jewish tradition in which the divine form ideology arguably receives its most advanced articulation† (2008, 53). The apocalypse as far as this book is concerned is the destruction of the temple and this is what is narrated in this book. As a result, one may say that the date of the writing of this book is after 70 A.D. After this point, it is considered to have been translated into Slavonic. There are many versions of history as to what language the original version of the Apocalypse of Abraham was written in. There is however, a certain kind of agreement regarding the fact that the original was written in Hebrew. This is another fact that makes commentators place the work in the tradition of Judaic beliefs. There are theories that there was a stage in between where a translation into Greek was carried out. Translation into English happened, however, during the year 1898. The acquaintance that English audiences have with this work is therefore, limited. This might be