Czech provocateur Vaclav Pisvejc destroys Ai Weiwei sculpture at Bologna exhibition opening

On Friday evening, at a private gathering for Ai Weiwei's solo exhibition at Palazzo Fava in Bologna, Czech national Vaclav Pisvejc approached the blue-and-white Porcelain Cube sculpture and toppled it from its pedestal, completely destroying the piece. Security quickly restrained him and contacted law enforcement. This act aligns with Pisvejc's history of disruptive behavior in the art scene. In 2018, he hit Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović with a portrait of herself during a book signing, claiming it was essential for his art, though she opted not to take legal action. Last year, he climbed naked onto the Hercules and Cacus statue in Florence's Piazza della Signoria with "Censored" painted on his body. His past offenses include scaling the Uffizi terrace and vandalizing a sculpture by Urs Fischer. For setting fire to a drape covering a replica of Michelangelo's David, he received a six-month prison sentence. In response to the destruction, Ai Weiwei announced that a photograph of the undamaged Porcelain Cube would be exhibited instead. Notably, Weiwei has his own history of destructive art, including a 1995 video of himself dropping a Han Dynasty urn. While Pisvejc identifies as a provocative performance artist, many institutions regard him as a hazardous disturbance.