Ai WeiWei: Sewing a Button
Exhibition
production
Factory International
year
2026
overview
Sewing a Button is a 24-hour live performance by Ai Weiwei, re-enacting his secret detention in China through a recreation of the cell where he lived, ate, washed and was interrogated. Presented as a companion piece to the exhibition Button Up!, the work turns a wider political history into a single, intimate human story.
Audio
approach
The approach centred on creating a 24-hour immersive soundscape that reflected the changing atmosphere of the day while preparing visitors for the exhibition. Built primarily from synthesisers, evolving textures and heavily processed layers, the music moves from calm, hopeful dawns and brighter daytime passages to darker, more restrained soundscapes through dusk and night, creating a subtle and immersive listening experience.
