A Tate & Zum Cultured London

4 Responses to A Tate & Zum Cultured London

1. Martin L says:

   06/04/2012 at 12:11 am

   And the story and artistry continues:

   Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sets up live webcams at home

   Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has set up four live webcams at his home, in a nod to the 24-hour police surveillance he has lived under for the last year.

   Mr Ai was detained in April 2011 during a crackdown on political activists and is now banned from leaving Beijing.

   The artist told the AFP news agency that by installing the cameras – including above his bed – he hoped to encourage transparency from all sides. …

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2. Martin L says:

   31/05/2012 at 5:09 pm

   Further artistry despite incarceration:

   Ai Weiwei misses opening of his Serpentine summer pavilion

   Ai Weiwei is one third of the creative team which has designed the 12th summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, but the artist was glaringly absent from its unveiling.

   The 54-year-old artist is still not allowed to leave China following his arrest and detention last year. In lieu of the real thing, the gallery screened a message from Ai…

   …Ai has become a symbol for human rights activists in China since spending 81 days in custody last year – much of it incommunicado – on tax avoidance charges many say are trumped up.

   He is able to work but not yet leave China, and his ordeal has had the opposite effect to which the Chinese authorities wanted, with Time Magazine naming him runner up in their Person of the Year list and Art Review placing him first in its Power 100 list last year.

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3. Martin L says:

   20/07/2012 at 12:18 pm

   The story continues…

   China artist Ai Weiwei’s tax evasion appeal rejected

   “This country has once again proved to the world that law and justice don’t exist here” said Ai Weiwei on Twitter.

   Outside his door witnesses counted up to 32 police cars.

   His lawyers told the court the police were acting illegally preventing a free man from hearing the verdict in his own case.

   The entire case they say is illegal, from the secret detention of Mr Ai to the fact there’s no real evidence of tax evasion.

   Ai Weiwei’s fame, his adept use of social media, his refusal to stay silent, and his persistent, sometimes impudent, criticisms of the Communist Party’s rule have all made this a litmus test for the way the party deals with dissent.

   But, with the transfer of power to a new generation of leaders looming, China’s huge security apparatus appears determined to put ”stability” and ”harmony” first, and, critics will say, due process second.

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   • Martin L says:

     02/10/2012 at 7:32 pm

     Ai Weiwei continues:

     Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to lose design firm licence

     Ai Weiwei firm to be closed down by Chinese authorities

     … “Of course we have lost the battle – they kept our [tax deposit]. But I think we have won the war. We gave people a clear understanding of what the Fake case was about and how they handled it,” he said.

     He said he hoped it would mean that they could not do the same to anyone else.

     “No great nation should play dirty tricks on its citizens,” he said.

     Chinese authorities could not be contacted…

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