Ai Weiwei's latest exhibition, Button Up, has opened at the Manchester Art Gallery, presenting a stunning visual critique of consumer culture through the medium of buttons. The show, which runs until September 2026, features thousands of buttons sourced from factories around the world, arranged into large-scale installations that evoke traditional Chinese patterns and modern industrial motifs.
Exhibition Overview
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a massive wall hanging composed of over 100,000 buttons, each one individually placed to form a intricate design reminiscent of a dragon. According to the gallery, the piece took a team of 20 assistants over three months to assemble. Weiwei described the work as "a meditation on the millions of small decisions that shape our world."
Globalisation and Labour
Other works in the show include a series of button-covered sculptures and a video installation documenting the button-making process in Chinese factories. The exhibition highlights the global supply chain behind everyday objects, with Weiwei noting that "each button carries the story of the hands that made it." The Manchester Art Gallery's director, Sarah Brown, said the exhibition "forces us to consider the human cost of our consumer habits."
The exhibition has drawn large crowds, with over 10,000 visitors in its first week. Critics have praised the show for its visual impact and political resonance. The Guardian's art critic, Adrian Searle, called it "a tour de force of conceptual art that is both beautiful and unsettling."
Practical Information
Button Up is on display at the Manchester Art Gallery until 30 September 2026. Admission is free. The gallery is open daily from 10am to 5pm.
