Ai Weiwei’s first major public art exhibition will be unveiled today, despite the fact that the Chinese artist is still missing.

New York's Central Park is the first stop in a worldwide tour of ‘Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads’. The artwork consists of twelve bronze heads, each depicting an animal from the Chinese zodiac, all weighing over 800lbs (362 kg), and will be positioned at the Pulitzer fountain at the entrance to the park.

The internationally acclaimed artist and outspoken critic of China disappeared at the beginning of April. Reports suggested that the artist was arrested by Chinese authorities as he tried to board a plane to Hong Kong. He has not been heard from since, although newspapers in Hong Kong reported Weiwei was arrested for ‘tax evasion and destroying evidence’.

The exhibition, which will also be at London’s Somerset House from the May 12, was inspired by the fountain clock created for the Qianlong Emperor in the Eighteenth century. Placed in the gardens of the Old Summer Palace outside Beijing, the clock consisted of 12 bronze heads which spouted water to tell the time.

In 1860 the Palace was ransacked by French and British troops and the heads were taken. So far only seven heads have been located. Weiwei has reinterpreted and re-created the clock by increasing their size. Each of the heads with the base measures ten feet in height.

The artworks highlight questions of looting and repatriation while extending the artist’s ongoing exploration of the 'fake' and the copy in relation to the original.

“My work is always dealing with real or fake, authenticity and value and how value relates to current political and social understandings and misunderstandings,” the artist said in a statement about the heads before his arrest.