ArtReview magazine named polymath Ai Weiwei, the most powerful artist in the world. The frequently provocative and subversive dimensions of his art and his outspokenness triggered various repressive forms from the Chinese government. He is an international interdisciplinary artist working in architecture, installations, social media, documentaries, writings, sculptures, photographs, and public art to find ways for his audiences to examine society and its values. The artist’s aesthetic response to our times’ difficulties is the motivation for those working to advance art’s social relevance. As Ai explains, “We must understand that individual efforts and activism are never just about ourselves: we are units of existence for everyone.”

At the 74th Venice International Film Festival, Ai directed and produced Human Flow about the epic migration of human multitudes through 23 countries representing 65 million refugees. See trailer for film here. Today, there are more than 100 million homeless people in the world. He has always been the voice of respect and for human rights. Ai’s empathy and moral concern for the continuous uncontrolled destruction and carnage is shown in his installation, Law of the Journey. In it we see how Ai was influenced by Duchamp’s ready-mades and how he infuses that with a political edge turning the common item into a monument.

In Ai’s published memoir, 1000 Years of Joy, and Sorrows, he expressed how he was feeling as he collaborated with other architects to design the “Bird’s Nest”. The project took five years to build and represented the hopes for a modern China. He wrote that it “aimed to convey the message that freedom was possible and encapsulated something essential about democracy, transparency, and equity”. The stadium has been used for many other purposes since they built it for the 2008 Olympics. Ai distanced himself from this project once he saw the Chinese government using it as a propaganda tool, at odds with what he felt were the oppressive realities of life in the country.

Since 2015, Ai could leave China and is now a citizen of the world. As he describes his journey and the information he gathers as an international citizen, Ai advises, “We have to understand humanity as one, human rights as one. We must defend everybody who has been mistreated and only by doing that can we build a better future.”

One thing to keep in mind as you research Ai’s life, the artist’s life, is the art. The creation results from his inner work and experiences. See Brilliant Ideas.

The Lisson Gallery, Haines Gallery, Galerie Max Hetzler, and Galleria Continua represent his work.

 

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