Tate Modern and Ai Wei Wei

Interactive kiosks and website for one of the world's most prominent artists

About the project

As well as being one of the foremost Chinese contemporary artists, Ai Weiwei is a prolific and influential presence on Twitter. He is in constant dialogue with followers around the world. For Ai’s Sunflower Seeds exhibition, Tate Modern commissioned Cogapp to produce a series of kiosks that allow visitors to start a conversation with the artist.

Designed and delivered to an exacting deadline, the system comprised video kiosks in the museum, seamlessly connected to a website, integrated with Twitter, and featuring visitor contributions and replies from the artist. All facilities and content were available simultaneously in English and Chinese.

Over 23,000 visitor videos were published on the website, plus over 190,000 website visits with more than 83,000 unique visitors. 51.5% of visitors to the website returned and spent an average time on the site of 2.5 minutes.

The One to One with the Artist: Ai Weiwei project received a Best of the Web Award in the Social Media category in 2011 and was also shortlisted for a BIMA Award in the Outdoor and Installation category.