Dezeen. Chinese authorities demolish Ai Weiwei's studio in Beijing. Ai Weiwei: China excluded its people from the Olympics. London is different. Police stop the media from filming after a Pro-Tibet demo near the Beijing national stadium in August 2008.
Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian The Olympic Games are highly commercialised. They purport to follow the traditions of an ancient athletics competition, but today it is the commercial aspect that is most apparent. I have seen how, through sport, cities and corporations compete against each other for financial gain. The Olympics are beholden to the wishes of various commercial operations, which in turn shape our understanding of the event and of the world. In China, the Olympics have always served as a tool for propaganda.
Artlog - Olympics. Chinese Artist Ai Wei-wei Breaks Social Media Silence, Joins Google+ Chinese artist Ai Wei-wei has broken his recent social media silence after his lengthy detention and interrogation, and joined Google+, the new social network from Google .
In his first post on G+ this afternoon, at 1:44pm local time, Ai Wei-wei said simply, “Greetings. I’m here!” He was quickly greeted with over 3,400 people adding him to their circles, and over 100 comments on his first G+ missive. Less than an hour later, Mr Ai posted a self-portrait photo to prove its authenticity. The number of established Chinese bloggers who are following him also proves it’s his genuine profile.
Ai Wei-wei has sneaked some cheeky humour into the ‘About’ section of his new G+ profile, describing himself as a “suspected pornography enthusiast and tax evader” – a reference to two of the many police charges leveled at him recently. During his worryingly long absence, a lot of international support was shown for Mr Ai, including a screening of an interview of his at TED. Ai Weiwei: New Communication. Why WeiWei? Chinese Artist Lets a Thousand Compatriots Loose on Kassel - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. It's hard to make a splash in the art world these days.
Bodily fluids, pornographic images, giant blocks of lard -- it's all been done already. But Chinese artist Ai WeiWei has found a way to get himself noticed at this year's Documenta, the prestigious art show which takes place every five years in Kassel. He's bringing 1,001 of his compatriots to the provincial German city to take part in an installation called "Fairytale. " The 1,001 live "exhibits" began arriving in Kassel on Tuesday evening.
The participants, who will live in a dormitory for the duration of the show, come from all social classes and include teachers, farmers, students, police officers, engineers and pensioners. The live exhibits will have no set program or commitments during their stay. "Fairytale" is the most expensive exhibit in this year's Documenta, costing a whopping €3.1 million ($4.14 million).
Documenta 12 begins next Saturday in Kassel and runs until September 23. dgs/dpa/reuters. News. Artnet News May 8, 2007 AI WEIWEI’S DOCUMENTA "FAIRYTALE" This summer, as a part of Documenta 12, June 16-Sept. 23, 2007, the Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei is mounting an incredible installation cum performance work -- he’s bringing 1,001 Chinese citizens to Kassel, the central German town where the prestigious international art show is mounted every five years.
Dubbed Fairytale -- the artist notes that Kassel was home to the Brothers Grimm from 1798 to 1830 -- the work is designed to allow the Chinese participants "to confront each other with their ordinary lives" while attending "one of the most important contemporary art events. " Volunteers were selected by Ai Weiwei with an open call on his blog, and are being brought to Kassel in groups of 200 for one week each, with their airfare and lodging paid for. While international travel is typically available to upper-class Chinese, Ai Weiwei’s group includes farmers, teachers, students, artists and engineers. Amnesty Blogs: Countdown for China : Partial List of child victims (5212) during the 2008 Earthquake. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego acquires work by Ai Weiwei, plans 24-hour protest. The work of Ai Weiwei has become a hot commodity ever since the artist was imprisoned by Chinese officials in early April.
While China's government hasn't given an official reason for Ai's detainment, many believe that the artist is being held as retaliation against his activism in the realms of human rights and free speech. On Friday, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego announced that it has purchased two pieces from Ai's series titled "Marble Chair. " The museum said that the artist carved the yoke-back chairs out of single blocks of marble.
Empty chairs are a recurring motif in Ai's work, and have taken on added resonance since his disappearance. The museum said it will hold a silent protest in support of Ai on Thursday at its downtown location. Ai Weiwei: Daring Chinese Artist. The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is a very brave man.
Long before April 3, when he was taken into police custody by the Chinese authorities in Beijing as he attempted to board a flight for Hong Kong, he knew that his vigorous support for human rights in China put him on a collision course with the government. He was badly beaten by the police in 2009, his blog was shut down that same year, and in 2010 his new studio in Shanghai was bulldozed by authorities. True, Ai may have imagined that his immense prestige in the international art world—he is regarded as the Chinese answer to Joseph Beuys, a post-Duchampian shaman with an Asian spin—would have provided him some protection.
And for a time it did. Ai is a fire and ice personality. Ai Wei Wei « Demusitecture. Recently came across this artist after a read of the interview Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Ai Wei Wei in the book Ai Wei Wei published by Phaidon, 2009.
Ai Wei Wei is a contemporary Chinese artist who has successfully established an artistic career both in America and China. He is also the one who provided Herzog and De Meuron with the inspiration for the bird nest Beijing Olympic stadium. Who's Afraid of Ai WeiWei? Graffiti Campaign Challenges Chinese Artist's Arrest. It’s now the second month since renowned artist Ai WeiWei was detained by Chinese authorities at the Beijing Airport, where he was to board a plane to Hong Kong.
In the absence of any satisfactory information about the charges under which he is being held or his condition, his artwork is being unveiled in the West on schedule and Hong Kong artists have started a graffiti campaign asking “Who’s Afraid of Ai WeiWei?” Ai Weiwei: Can an artist change society? In a video smuggled to a recent TED conference (which he was forbidden to attend) Chinese artist Ai Weiwei insisted, "Art is about social change.
" Apparently, the potential for change spearheaded by China's most celebrated global art star troubles China's leaders. On April 3 authorities seized Mr. Ai, who disappeared into a news blackout illuminated only by vague allegations of "economic crimes. " Skip to next paragraph. Review: Ai Weiwei @ Haines Gallery « Art Beat Bay Area. Ai Weiwei's "Snake Bag" The Ai Weiwei show at Haines Gallery is important for many reasons, not all of which have to do with the specific work on view.
Hailing from Beijing, Weiwei is at the forefront of the increasingly vibrant conversation the international art world is having about contemporary Asian art, especially that coming out of China. An activist and forceful critic of the Chinese government (he was beaten by the Chinese police last year and suffered life-threatening head injuries because of it), Weiwei’s art gives outsiders intimate insight into Chinese culture and current issues through the universal language of objects and concepts. His work also resonates within Western art history. Obvious influences and references can be made to Marcel Duchamp, Félix González-Torres, and Andy Warhol, and even contemporaries, such as Jeff Koons. Weiwei is a conceptual artist; the greater message of his pieces is not immediately evident.
This exhibition is on view until May 28, 2010. The 2011 TIME 100 Poll Results - The 2011 TIME 100 Poll. Ai Weiwei’s New Blog. It is just over a year since the Sichuan earthquake in southwestern China. The government has made it clear over and over since then that the crumpled schools and dead and injured students have nothing to do with shoddy construction. State agencies and the media, representing the authority and wisdom of the country, are trying to convince people that the earthquake was so strong that it was inevitable the schools would collapse and pupils die. Since it was fate, it seems, no one should be held responsible. Once again, the facts have been erased. Rather than value life, the state has issued a long list of abstract numbers. Ai Weiwei learned the art of protest on the L.E.S. Ai Weiwei back in his New York City days.
Photo by Clayton Patterson BY CLAYTON PATTERSON | After watching the Ai Weiwei documentary, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” I was somewhat surprised by the parallel between his journey and my own. Elsa and I moved to the Lower East Side in 1979 when the city was still a down-and-dirty place. In 1981 I had an art career moving forward in then-fashionable Soho, but I did not fit into that world. I dropped out of chasing the art career. Ai Weiwei. Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre.