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Olympic Sculpture Park

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze)

Opening 2025

Olympic Sculpture Park

Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, 2010, Ai Weiwei, Chinese, b. 1957, cast bronze, dimensions variable, Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio, © Ai Weiwei, photo: Daniel Avila.

Standing over 10 feet tall and weighing over 1,500 pounds per piece, Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) (2010) consists of 12 zodiac head sculptures. These remarkable works are installed in the Ackerley Meadow, an area of the sculpture park just outside of the PACCAR Pavilion. They are arranged in an arcing semi-circle and in order of the traditional Chinese zodiac cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Visitors can get up close and walk among the sculptures.

The works reconceive 12 zodiac heads that once decorated an 18th-century Qing imperial fountain before they were looted during the Second Opium War (1856–1860). Seven are based on the original heads that have survived, and Ai researched and reimagined the five animals still missing to complete the zodiac. This work embodies Ai’s long engagement with questioning the tendency to value the real over the fake and the original over the copy.

Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) will be on view along with 22 monumental sculptures throughout the Olympic Sculpture Park, including The Eagle (1971) by Alexander Calder, Wake (2002–03) by Richard Serra, and Seattle Cloud Cover (2006) by Teresita Fernández. Seattle’s largest green space, the nine-acre sculpture park is free and open daily from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

Special funding for this installation provided by Jeffrey* and Susan Brotman, the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation, and the Walker Family Fund.

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An intricate black-and-white illustration of an ancient grand palace with ornate fountains, staircases, and statues. The architecture showcases detailed columns and decorative elements, surrounded by lush gardens where Zodiac Heads evoke the elegance.
The Old Summer Palace of Yuanmingyuan, west façade of Haiyantang (Palace of Calm Seas), Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

Marvelous fountain

In 1860, British and French troops destroyed the Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness). This vast complex included Baroque-style palaces in the European section designed by Jesuits serving the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736–95) during the Qing dynasty. The grounds boasted an aviary and a hedge maze, but the centerpiece was an ingenious hydraulic water-clock fountain devised by French astronomer Michel Benoist, S. J. (1715–1774). It had twelve bronze waterspouts in the shape of zodiac animal heads to represent the months of the lunar calendar and the hours in a day. Every two hours, one of the animals spouted water; at noon, they all spouted in concert. The fountain was a technological marvel of timekeeping.

Animal timekeepers

Rat
Ox
Tiger
Rabbit
Dragon
Snake
Horse
Ram
Monkey
Rooster
Dog
Boar

11 pm–1 am
1 am–3 am
3 am–5 am
5 am–7 am
7 am–9 am
9 am–11 am
11 am–1 pm
1 pm–3 pm
3 pm–5 pm
5 pm–7 pm
7 pm–9 pm
9 pm–11 pm

A man stands in an industrial workshop next to a large, abstract sculpture resembling an dog head on a long, thick pole. Inspired by Ai Weiweis Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, he reaches up to touch the piece. Other sculptures and people are visible in the background.
Ai Weiwei with Zodiac Head: Bronze Dog at the foundry in Chengdu, China in 2010. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio.

Zodiac pride

The twelve zodiac heads decorating the water-clock fountain at Yuanmingyuan were looted by foreign troops and taken to Europe as spoils. A few of the heads (and one forgery) reappeared at auction, returning attention to this dark chapter of Western colonialism and China’s “century of national humiliation.” Seven of the twelve heads have been donated to Chinese museums since 2000, their return home symbolic of China’s present economic and political might.

Because they are atypical of traditional culture of the Han (China’s largest ethnic group), Ai Weiwei wonders why the original heads are considered national treasures. Designed by Europeans and catering to the Qianlong emperor’s insatiable desire for novelty and foreign exotica, the zodiac heads inherently straddle notions of the East and the West.

Not a zodiac without twelve

Because only seven of the original heads are known, Ai used various Chinese sources, understanding they would be imperfect models, to complete his circle of animals. To depict the dragon, Ai and his team looked at embroidery on official robes in the Ming and Qing dynasties, among other references, translating that research into a hybrid image akin to the seven surviving heads.

Ai says, “Without twelve it’s not a zodiac.” This image of Zodiac Head: Bronze Dog is one of multiple gigantic sets cast for outdoor display. A gilded set on the smaller scale of the surviving originals can be seen in Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, on view at SAM until September 7, 2025.

A golden dragon head sculpture with intricate details sits on a twisted pedestal, reminiscent of Ai Weiweis take on the Chinese zodiac. The dragon boasts flowing mane-like features and elongated whiskers, set dramatically against a dark background.
Dragon, from Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Gold), Private collection.

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