SF: Alcatraz Island and Ai Weiwei's @Large Exhibit
I grew up in the Bay Area, but I never got to visit Alcatraz on a school field trip like many of my friends. It's okay though because on this visit, I was able to explore Alcatraz Island and see Ai Weiwei's @Large exhibit all in one trip (exhibit at Alcatraz until April 26, 2015).
JUMP AHEAD: Alcatraz Island Tour | Ai Weiwei's @Large Exhibit | Information to Help Plan Your Trip
What's Alcatraz Island?
Alcatraz Island (often called "The Rock") is located in the San Francisco Bay about 1.5 miles off the shores of SF. It originally was used as a military base, and then a military prison. In the 1930's, it was turned into a federal penitentiary. When funding ran out and the prison fell in disrepair, it was abandoned and became the site of a protest by Native Americans about the return of sacred land to them. Now, it's designated a national park and is a very very big tourist attraction.
Remnants of the protest by Native Americans in the 1960's still evident on Alcatraz today
To visit the island, you have to take a ferry from Pier 33 (Alcatraz Cruises is the only operator to the island) – book in advance because they do sell out! The ferry ticket includes the audio tour of the prison cell area. The tour was actually super interesting because it is narrated by correctional officers and prisoners in Alcatraz and details the history of the prison, the escape attempts made, and describe what living conditions were in the prison.
Each row of cells were 3 stories tall
Each prisoner was confined to a tiny cell
Those who violated prison rules were put in solitary confinement cells
The sun streamed directly into this part of the prison cells – prisoners said that they could sometimes hear parties going on in SF when the wind blew in their direction
Boats can be seen sailing from the prison yard
The views of SF from Alcatraz are amazing – this punished prisoners even more knowing that civilian life was so close yet so far...
Ai Weiwei's @Large Exhibit
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and political activist. He was born in Beijing, but lived in the US (mostly New York) for 12 years before returning to China when his father became sick. He is mostly known as being targeted by the Chinese government because of his criticism of the government with regards to human rights violations and cover-ups. He was also arrested and detained without charges for a period of time, which relates to this current exhibit on Alcatraz Island. There's a great documentary about him called Never Sorry, available on Netflix that describes his background in more detail if you're interested – it's very good!
The exhibit has 7 works of art incorporated into various parts of the prison and have themes that tie directly with prison life. Some works are focused on personal freedom (With Wind and Refraction) while others shed some light on those who are imprisoned, whether justly or unjustly so (Trace). The pieces were all made in China and then shipped here to be put together under the direction of Ai Weiwei's team and a liason. It was all done without Ai Weiwei actually visiting Alcatraz because he cannot travel outside of China.
Piece called With Wind – dragon kite representing personal freedom and also showing a creature who can fly, trapped in a building. The dragon's "body" also had many quotes painted on it
Piece called Trace showing portraits of people imprisoned – all made out of LEGOs
The portraits were all made out of LEGO pieces in amazing detail. Each portrait was also very unique and incorporated so many different styles.
This portrait of a little girl caught our eye
This mother and her two daughters were imprisoned when their husband/father defected from North Korea to Denmark.
This exhibit had portraits of people imprisoned all over the world. Podiums in the room had binders that described why people were in jail.
The portrait above of a little girl caught our eye (green background, orange words). Why was this kid in jail? Turns out the woman Shin Suk-ja is the mother and her two daughters are shown (Hae-won Suk-ja and Oh Kyu Won Suk-ja). The three of them were imprisoned when Shin's husband defected from North Korea to Denmark (wikipedia article here).
Piece called Refraction – Gigantic metal wing made of reflective panels originally used on solar cookers by Tibetans (more info here)
Piece called Blossom – ceramic flowers fill the toilets and sinks of hospital ward cells (more info here)
Plan Your Trip to Alcatraz
- Buy ferry tickets in advance online at Alcatraz Cruises
- Ferry ticket includes audio tour of prison cell and the Ai Weiwei Exhibit
- Ai Weiwei's exhibit there until April 26, 2015
- I'd budget 4-5 hours for the visit. We took the 10:30am ferry and took the 1:55pm ferry back to arrive around 2:15pm. Plan accordingly because we were starving! Grabbed take-out lunch at Sammy's Aloha right next to Pier 33 afterwards and sat outside to eat. Or you can walk over to Pier 39 to eat (but beware of the tourist traps!)
BBQ Chicken bowl at Sammy's Aloha