Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Ai Weiwei recontextualizes and disrupts traditional Chinese imagery and materials, as seen in Zodiac (Dragon), 2018. Like his earlier Zodiac Heads sculptures, this work resurrects the bronze fountainheads that once adorned the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, looted by British and French forces in 1860. The Dragon, along with the Snake, Ram, Rooster, and Dog, was among those never recovered.

When the Zodiac Heads began their international exhibition tour in 2011, Ai himself was imprisoned in Beijing. While the artworks traveled freely, the artist remained confined—an irony that underscores the political urgency of his work. Since then, the Zodiac Heads have become some of the most recognized sculptures of the 21st century, exhibited across Asia, Europe, and North America.

Incorporating LEGO bricks into his Zodiac series, Ai connects historical trauma with contemporary forms of control and conformity. The use of mass-produced, uniform pieces echoes the artist’s ongoing concerns about individual agency within rigid systems— concerns shaped by his own experiences of surveillance, censorship, and exile. Ai began working with LEGO in 2014, creating large-scale portraits of dissidents and political prisoners. The political charge of these works led LEGO to refuse a bulk order in 2015, citing a policy against political use—a decision that only amplified the project’s message and public support.