….from the Wall Street Journal:(excerpts) And what is the art world doing about China’s imprisonment (of world famous artist Ai WaiWai)? Not much. “We are aghast that this has happened and intend to protest as best we can,” Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.director Hugh D[...]
Posts Tagged ‘Ai Weiwei’
艾未未 Why is the Western Art World so Quiet About Ai Weiwei?
SPIEGEL spoke with German curator Roger Buergel, who helped Ai Weiwei on his path to stardom, about why artists have remained so passive. (excerpted) Buergel: I think that most of them are glad to be rid of Ai Weiwei. SPIEGEL: Why? Buergel: Ai Weiwei succeed[...]
八英雄 Dozens Targeted in Chinese Crackdown on Critical Voices
from Der Springer Sandra Schulz in Shanghai eight heroes Ai Weiwei Liu Xianbin Ni Yulan Zhao Lianhai Liu Xiaoyuan Ran Yunfei Liu Xiaobo Teng Biao The recent disappearance of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei made headlines around the world. But the Chinese regime has also targeted dozens of other critics a[...]
April 21st, 2011 - 5:31 am § in China
Rushdie on Art and Politics
from NT Times (excerpted) Last October the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei covered the floor (of the immense Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Moderny) with his “Sunflower Seeds”: 100 million tiny porcelain objects, each handmade by a master craftsman, no two identical. The installation was a carpet of l[...]
PETITION: Free Ai Weiwei
On April 3, internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained at the Beijing airport while en route to Hong Kong, and his papers and computers were seized from his studio compound. Now the Guggenheim Foundation is leading the call for his release. Update: The Museum of Contemporary Art[...]
CHINA: More Oppression of Free Speech
BEIJING (Reuters 4/12/11) – A 21-year-old Chinese man who attended a proposed pro-democracy “Jasmine Revolution” protest in Beijing was sentenced to labor re-education, in the first confirmed punishment for the Middle East-inspired gatherings that were squashed by wary authorities.[...]
UPDATE: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei arrested in latest government crackdown
UPDATE April 7: Jon Huntsman, US Ambassador to China — saluted Ai, jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo and others who “challenge the Chinese government to serve the public in all cases and at all times”. “Ai Weiwei is under investigation on suspicion of ec[...]
China: A village with only one restaurant
from Notes on China There is a fantastic joke circulating in the chinese social media sphere. This joke is funny as it is thinly veiled. There is a village that only has one restaurant. Everyone in the village has to eat at that restaurant. Villager: Why can’t we have more than one restaurant? Wa[...]
January 12th, 2011 - 4:22 pm § in Uncategorized
Free Speech in China
It took two years to build, and one day to tear down. An order to raze the studio — designed by Ai Weiwei, a protean artist who is one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese Communist Party — was issued last July. Mr. Ai took the move to be retribution for rankling the […][...]