BLENHEIM Palace is to become home to the unusual contemporary artwork of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei.

From Wednesday, the Woodstock palace will host the first exhibition of the Blenheim Art Foundation, founded by one of the Duke of Marlborough’s sons.

More than 50 works by Ai will be exhibited.

But the dissident artist will not be able to visit it himself as he has not been able to leave China since 2011, when his passport was confiscated by the Chinese government.

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Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, founder of the foundation, said: “We are delighted to be able to host the work of an artist of the calibre and eminence of Ai Weiwei. We hope that our new programme of contemporary art, beginning with this exhibition, will challenge and inspire our visitors.”

The exhibition will feature both well-known and new work by Ai.

These include Soft Ground, a site-specific carpet displayed in the Great Hall, hand-painted porcelain plates with freedom flower details in the China Ante Room and Sunflower Seed Stools, also crafted in porcelain.

The show will run until December 14.

For the full story and pictures, see tomorrow’s Oxford Mail.

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