Seattle installs 12 Ai Weiwei sculptures

Seattle Art Museum has installed Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” at Olympic Sculpture Park, adding 12 monumental bronze sculptures to the waterfront site in Seattle. KNKX reported the display on May 19, and the museum says the work is on view from March 30, 2026 through Oct. 24, 2027. The sculptures are arranged in an arcing semicircle and follow the traditional Chinese zodiac sequence. Each figure stands more than 10 feet tall and weighs more than 1,500 pounds, according to the museum and KNKX. ### Which Ai Weiwei work is Seattle showing? Ai Weiwei’s installation is the 2010 work “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze),” a set of 12 animal heads representing the Chinese zodiac. Seattle Art Museum says the figures are installed in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar. The museum describes the project as a chance for visitors to walk among the sculptures at the park. (knkx.org) The work refers to the 18th-century zodiac fountain at Beijing’s Old Summer Palace, where animal-head sculptures were looted after Anglo-French troops sacked the site in 1860. Ai has revisited those forms in contemporary materials and settings in earlier presentations of the series. Seattle Art Museum’s exhibition page says the installation offers a way to engage with Ai’s work in a public setting across the city. (seattleartmuseum.org) ### Why are there 12 sculptures, and how big are they? The number 12 comes from the Chinese zodiac cycle, which assigns one animal to each year in a repeating sequence. Seattle Art Museum says the Seattle installation includes one monumental sculpture for each zodiac animal. KNKX reported that all 12 bronze figures stand more than 10 feet tall, and the museum says each weighs over 1,500 pounds. (seattleartmuseum.org) A photo caption carried by KNKX said the final installation at Olympic Sculpture Park took place on March 19, 2026. That timing helps explain why the work is newly visible even though the museum lists the exhibition dates as beginning March 30. ### Where in Seattle can people see them? Olympic Sculpture Park, at 2901 Western Avenue, is the site for the installation. (knkx.org) Seattle Art Museum says the park is free to visit year-round, and the Ai Weiwei work appears in the museum’s current exhibitions listings for the park. The museum homepage lists “Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” among current and upcoming installations across its three Seattle locations. The Seattle Art Museum has also created a broader Ai Weiwei page that links the sculpture park installation to other presentations of his work in the city. That page says the Olympic Sculpture Park presentation opened in 2025, but the current exhibition listings and dedicated exhibition page give the active public dates as March 30, 2026 to Oct. 24, 2027. Based on those pages, the museum appears to be treating the sculpture park display as part of a longer-running Ai Weiwei program in Seattle. (seattleartmuseum.org) ### What happens next at the park? Seattle Art Museum has scheduled a community celebration for May 30 at Olympic Sculpture Park. The event listing says the program will include hands-on art making, live music from local performers and a lecture on the sculpture’s meanings. The museum says the celebration is tied to the public presentation of the zodiac heads and will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (seattleartmuseum.org) The exhibition itself is slated to remain on view through Oct. 24, 2027, according to Seattle Art Museum’s listings. That gives the park more than a year to present the 12 sculptures as one of its major outdoor installations. (seattleartmuseum.org 1) (seattleartmuseum.org 2)