Giant Chinese zodiac sculptures turn heads

Associated Press

BOSTON

A dozen giant bronze animal heads representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac are stopping people in their tracks in downtown Boston and sparking conversations.

“Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,” by contemporary Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei, is the latest in a series of outdoor public art projects on the Rose Kennedy Greenway intended to delight, awe and educate the thousands of tourists and workers who walk through the park daily.

“The goal of all public art is to engage people,” said Lucas Cowan, the public art curator of the Greenway Conservancy, which oversees the 1.5-mile-long ribbon of open space that once was a dim, grimy place in the shadow of an overhead highway.

“To be able to bring people here where they see them up close and not in a museum is very important,” he said. “If people just walk past this, then we’ve failed.”

The 10-foot-tall cast- bronze sculptures, which weigh 1,600 to 2,100 pounds apiece when the stem and base are included, are arranged in an outward-facing circle surrounding a popular children’s splash area called the Rings Fountain. They are positioned in order – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

They are based on similar but smaller zodiac sculptures that once adorned the fountain clock in the European-style garden at the Yuanming Yuan, an imperial summer palace outside Beijing.

The palace was ransacked by British and French troops in 1860, and the heads stolen. Most have been recovered and returned to China, but two remain missing, Cowan said.

“By enlarging them like this, the artist is saying, ‘They belong to us; give them back,’” he said.

Cowan also hopes people who see the sculptures educate themselves about the social justice and political issues the artist is involved in. Ai this year has been drawing attention to the European refugee crisis.

The Boston installation, which will be in place until October, is part of a world tour of the animal heads owned by a private collector that started in 2010 and has already visited several U.S. and international cities.