I just wanted to say that he is one of the great modern artists of our time and hope the PRC Police release him as soon as possible.
His installation of sunflower seeds at the Tate is absolutely brilliant.
I just wanted to say that he is one of the great modern artists of our time and hope the PRC Police release him as soon as possible.
His installation of sunflower seeds at the Tate is absolutely brilliant.
I think I may have read a piece about him in a recent issue of a fortnightly magazine. Real shame putting him away like this. My, how they fear him.
It's not just him, over 100 dissidents and human rights activists / lawyers have been detained or arrested in recent weeks. After recent events in the middle east (and subsequent calls for a Jasmine revolution in China) it's not just fear, Beijing are positively shitting themselves and are in the middle of a panic crackdown.
It is quite ironic that by detaining him they risk of making the Bird's Nest the national symbol of revolution!
It gets worse, China is simply hardening its attitude. From RTHK:
I really regret that China was given the Olympics in 2008. They said the event would help to foster a more open China. It was all lies.China attacks West over detained artist
06-04-2011
A mainland newspaper has attacked Western governments for demanding the release of detained artist Ai Weiwei, saying he had tested the bounds of Chinese law and would pay the price. The editorial in the Global Times was the first comment by state-controlled media on the controversy.
It said Western governments were using his case to attack China's human rights record, despite not knowing what might have happened to the artist or what laws he could have violated. The paper said Western critics were "vehemently" launching critical attacks against China, in a hasty assault on the country's judicial sovereignty.
The paper suggested that Mr Ai had been testing the bounds of official tolerance. "Ai himself probably understands that by doing whatever he pleases, and often daring to do what others dare not, while drawing together others like him, he often strays close to the red lines of Chinese law," it said.
"So long as Ai Weiwei is constantly charging forward, it's very likely that one day he will hit the boundary. History will render its own verdict on people like Ai Weiwei, and before then they may pay some price for their own special choices," the paper warned.
I wonder who would 'disappear' in Hong Kong if we didn't have one country two systems. Probably Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung for starters.