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本帖最后由 il_ladro 于 2011-4-8 21:20 编辑
原文地址：
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/apr/04/ai-weiwei-artist-china-detained?commentpage=1#start-of-comments
=========================卫报博客正文，评论在后==========================
Ai Weiwei: the artist as political hero Ai Weiwei, detained by the Chinese authorities and unreachable since 3 April, has joined a select band of artists who have risked everything for their ideals
It says a lot for the art of Ai Weiwei that his installation Sunflower Seeds has continued to move and fascinate visitors to Tate Modern even after health and safety issues caused it to be roped off. Denied the intimacy of walking over millions of porcelain replicas of seeds and running handfuls of them through their fingers as the artist had intended, people stare instead from the Turbine Hall bridge, or walk alongside the grey carpet of myriad seeds. It is curiously beguiling, like looking into Monet's waterlily paintings, except what daunts the mind here is not endless reflection in calm water but the thought of how many tiny fragile things you are looking at, and the notion that each represents a soul, a person, a life. A life that could bloom into a sunflower, but is instead frozen forever as a monochrome seed.
Now, Ai Weiwei is being treated by the Chinese police as if he were one more nameless sunflower seed to crush underfoot. An individual of international fame and potent charisma, he seemed unassailable, but presumably that is the point of detaining him – to stamp out the idea that any individual is greater than the law of the state.
Ai Weiwei was not apparently connected with the call for a "Jasmine revolution" that is believed to have provoked the current crackdown in China. Yet this terrific artist has not been afraid to put his criticisms of the government in explicit language. Last year he wrote in the Guardian urging David Cameron on his visit to China to speak up for democratic rights and insist that "the civilised world cannot see China as a civilised country if it doesn't change its own behaviour". "I don't believe that these are western values," he added. "These are universal values."
In 2010, this trenchant declaration that democracy is a universal human right – that it is not only for western countries but for all countries – stood out a mile from the run of political discourse. This year, exactly the same call for universal human rights and democracy has transfixed Arab nations, with the same bold rejection of the doublespeak that has in the past led to one-party states being excused or tolerated. No wonder China's communist party is scared.
Ai Weiwei joins a select band of artists who have risked everything for ideals. Michelangelo was arguably the first dissident artist when he created fortifications for the revolutionary republic of Florence in 1529: in fact, he and Ai Weiwei have something in common as artists who work on a grand public scale. You could call the floor of the Tate Turbine Hall a modern equivalent of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in both fame and impact. In the 19th century, the tough realist painter Gustave Courbet joined the Paris commune and died in exile for his ideals: again, like Ai Weiwei and Michelangelo, he was a charismatic personality who seemed too big to be brought down. But he was cruelly punished.
Will Ai Weiwei be a Courbet or a Michelangelo? While the Communard painter was ruined by his political enemies, Michelangelo was spared and allowed to carry on working and enjoying his success after the defeat of the Florentine rebellion – he really was too big to hurt. We have to hope that, once it feels it has made its ugly, bullying point, the state will release Ai Weiwei and his fame will continue to protect him. Whatever happens, he is that rare thing: the artist as moral and political hero.
=========================评论，其中有些非常非常非常有意思==========================
nattybumpo
4 April 2011 7:22PM
If we all write to our M.P.s tonight then maybe we can put some pressure on our government to speak out on his behalf. It's disgusting the way he and and many others are being treated in that country; whilst we provide the markets for China's financial expansion!
If we don't draw the line here then maybe our values aren't as set in stone as we like to think!
China. You are only doing yourself a disservice by maltreating this man in this way. Either give him the space to breathe or take your goods and find another market for them!
We who have free speach won't stand by and show you tolerance if you don't stop stepping on the individuals you deem it important to crush.
Speaking out maybe not important in your culture but in ours it's highly valued.
Time for a re-think on your part I think China.
Yours an arrogant Westerner...
natty
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stoneageman
4 April 2011 8:08PM
It's disgusting the way he and and many others are being treated in that country; whilst we provide the markets for China's financial expansion!
Isn't Ai WeiWei a part of China's capitalist expansion?
We live in a capitalist country, the very idea we (as a country) would let a small thing like human rights get in the way of commerce is absurd.
Though the hypocrisy of exhibiting such works as this in bourgeois institituions and then calling the financially successful artist a political hero is nonsense and all while the institution is whoring around for corporate sponsors who themselves whore round China for deals makes it all the more laughable.
Meanwhile the poor, the sick, the handiicapped and infirm are being kicked in the teeth in this country and I suspect the people who run these institutions support this governments attack on weak of our society.
We live in a country where everything is for sale, even political support for dissidents. This is all part of the same shit package.
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BobandRoberta
4 April 2011 8:23PM
Ai Wei Wei is a fantastically brave and insightful artist. He is neither Courbet or Michaelangelo but he is a modern phenomenon. The art and the actions of Ai Wei Wei say to The World that art is free speech and that human political and artistic expression is the fundamental aspiration of every human being. Please write to who you can influence and ask 'Where is Ai WeiWei?'
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HisHoliness
4 April 2011 9:00PM
Our (liam and myself) recent comments is worth repeating.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/25/rabbit-cartoon-chinese-new-year#start-of-comments
liamdarcybrown :25 January 2011 4:07PM
I'm so happy you picked up on this story - I first watched this video this morning on China Geeks and it really is one of the bravest public acts I've come across in twenty years of involvement with China. I challenge anybody to look at supposedly dissident work like that of Ai Weiwei and see it as anything other than safe and pandering to Western art critics' stereotypes of "edgy" Chinese art. Whoever created this video might come to be seen as the digital equivalent of Tank Man, who faced down the PLA on Chang'an Avenue in 1989. I pray they're not in a detention cell as I write.
Only this morning I posted a blog with some of my own observations on this, if people are interested.
HisHoliness : 26 January 2011 2:49AM
@ liamdarcybrown : 25 January 2011 4:07PM
I challenge anybody to look at supposedly dissident work like that of Ai Weiwei and see it as anything other than safe and pandering to Western art critics' stereotypes of "edgy" Chinese art.edgy" Chinese art.
What a howler.. You are the first westerner I have come across who sees Ai for what he is, a faux dissident who knows how to play to the gallery and get rich in the process. He is an expert in knowing how far to stretch that dissident thingy before it snaps and stings him. Does anyone remember a single thing he said other than it was something that criticized the government? Notice he does not have a fan club. This is deliberate because to have a dissident following, that is an "organized group" no matter how benign and small, is certain jail bait. I don't know about the others but I really enjoy and admire his chutzpah. I enjoy even more the expertise he uses to separate gullible westerners from their money.
Yep. Wei just made a career move.
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Xlbfan
4 April 2011 10:42PM
If he is released, something tells me he won't keep quiet. I fear it'll either be exile abroad - which he is likely to refuse - or a long time in prison.
I think his treatment speaks for itself really. In a round about way, so does all the "western stooge" accusations such as that above.
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zombus
5 April 2011 12:40AM
It's no good, I don't buy the idea that commissioning people to make zillions of pottery sunflower seeds is the equivalent in any realm that matters to Michaelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
When I saw the latter yonks ago, I and a friend got in early, before the crowds. I lay on my back on the floor, trying to believe one bloke did all that. And these days, incidentally, I bow to JJ's comprehensive knowledge and appreciation of Michaelangelo and his contemporaries, which are adding to mine. But I cannot - personally, at present - see Ai Weiwei as their artistic fellow.
That doesn't mean he's not a good man, maybe a great man. His claim that democracy is a basic human right is a bold and powerful one, and has authority in coming from a man who grew up in and knows about non-democracy, and has managed to communicate his views out of its midst. But maybe he is a voice in the wilderness, a dissident spokesman, more than he is an artist. I would say the same about Solzhenitsyn, going on what little I've read ("Cancer Ward", and "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch").
I hope they let the poor sod out with little delay.
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8Wheels
5 April 2011 1:26AM
Release Ai Wei Wei. Whether one likes his art or not is irrelevant. Noone should be 'disappeared' by his/her government for speaking their mind. CCP China: Stop using Nazi methods and people will show more respect.
Screw Godwin's Law.
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artressa
5 April 2011 3:50AM
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
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premodernist
5 April 2011 8:24AM
Ai Weiwei joins a select band of artists who have risked everything for ideals. Michelangelo was arguably the first dissident artist when he created fortifications for the revolutionary republic of Florence in 1529
How's that again? He couldn't have been the "first" because, well, it was the renaissance and Florence was stuffed to the gills with famous artists - most of whom also fought for the republic, (including working on strengthening the walls). And he couldn't have been a 'dissident' because, well, you have to be rebelling against the incumbent administration don't you? The republic was the incumbent administration - unless you mean the time he 'rebelled' against the republic by running away to Venice?
Michelangelo was spared and allowed to carry on working and enjoying his success after the defeat of the Florentine rebellion – he really was too big to hurt.
I think, initially, "he really was too difficult to find" would have been a more accurate assessment of how Michelangelo's life was saved. Friends and artist colleagues of his who didn't hide - were killed. By the time Michelangelo had been found, the Emperor Charles V had already intervened in Florence to halt the retributions by the Medici against the former defenders of the republic.
Besides, there was that unfinished matter of 16,500 gold ducats Michelangelo had been paid for the Medici tomb by the Duke of Milan but which still wasn't finished nearly 15 years after payment - wanting either the work finished or the money back might have contributed to the desire to keep him alive.
in fact, he and Ai Weiwei have something in common as artists who work on a grand public scale. You could call the floor of the Tate Turbine Hall a modern equivalent of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in both fame and impact
Seriously? A modern equivalent of the Sistine chapel ceiling? Having an idea and then getting a load of poor people to make it for you? Followed by a series planned auctions at Christoby's for hoped-for massive profits? What did Michelangelo do to deserve this comparison?
While the Communard painter was ruined by his political enemies .......
... Ai Weiwei got richer and richer. Hope he's released in time for his big auctions next month otherwise he won't have any time left to whip up the much needed publicity for them and all those rich people won't feel comfortable about investing in some ceramic magic beans.
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quaela
5 April 2011 9:54AM
And some less 'famous' artists risk everything & sadly lose their life:
from todays Guardian:
Israeli peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis shot dead in Jenin
Witnesses say actor – who ran a drama project in a Palestinian refugee camp – was shot five times by masked men
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/israeli-peace-activist-shot-dead
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YummieMummie
5 April 2011 10:11AM
Why are the Chinese always so touchy? They really should stop acting like petty bully boys and leave him be.
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R042
5 April 2011 10:17AM
Leave your petty arguments about Art at the door here and realise that what has happened is demonstrative of the brutality of the Chinese regime.
No-one should be silenced for producing the "wrong" works or saying the "wrong" things.
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premodernist
5 April 2011 10:51AM
RO42
No-one should be silenced for producing the "wrong" works or saying the "wrong" things.
Woah! Slow down there hoss' ... jumping the gun a bit aren't you? Or do you know something we don't? According to reports, he was boarding a flight to Hong Kong, from where he was going to travel on to Taiwan for "an exhibition" (there being no direct flights between China and Taiwan presumably). Now this could be viewed as a deliberately provocative act - going to Taiwan that is. Or he could have 'forgotten' his passport for all you know, or failed to fill in his tax returns - again. You, I suspect, have as little idea as the rest of us as to why he may have been detained. If you know for sure that he was detained for "producing the wrong works or saying the wrong things" do let us know where you got the information.
Leave your petty arguments about Art at the door here
Jonathan Jones was trying to make a case for Michelangelo as some sort of "political hero". I for one was just pointing out how absurd that is.
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LouLarry
5 April 2011 11:09AM
Ai Weiwei is a third-rate Salon artist redeemed by his political involvements.
His art is of the academy of today - boring installation of the kind anyone can and does do. The Chinese government gave him importance.
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stoneageman
5 April 2011 11:23AM
YummieMummie
Why are the Chinese always so touchy? They really should stop acting like petty bully boys and leave him be.
Why are the Americans so touchy about Cuba? Why do they sanction (if possible) none American comapnies that want to do business with Cuba and why do they embargo that small insignificant state? They really should stop acting like petty bullies.
Perhaps if the west wasn't up to its eyes in doing the same shit as China, they would occupy the moral highground and they might be listened to a little.
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QueenElizabeth
5 April 2011 11:38AM
Whatever one's opinions of Ai as an artist, he is an ambassador of sorts, representing then concerns of the Chinese people. He is also a safety valve of sorts as then people have few other channels by which the immensity of their concerns can reach the ears of their leaders. And even the most rudimentary simpleton knows what happens when you turn off the pressure valve on your boiler.
The bars of China's prison have receded over the last few decades, giving a convincing illusion of space and freedom. But you don't actually have to go very far to feel the bars in your face again, unless you are happy walking on the spot.
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8Wheels
5 April 2011 12:50PM
@premodernist
Your opinions on Ai Wei Wei's art aside, do you think he should be disappeared 'Nazi style' just for speaking his mind?
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pomod68
5 April 2011 12:55PM
Ai Wei Wei is an artist. and a hero for holding a light up to the Chinese government and their authoritarian bullshit.
To his detractors: He's good artist that is why he successful internationally. To dismiss his political stance with careerism is cynical and petty. You should really find about more about he and his work.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ai-wei-wei/
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8Wheels
5 April 2011 12:56PM
@
Ai Weiwei is a third-rate Salon artist redeemed by his political involvements. His art is of the academy of today - boring installation of the kind anyone can and does do. The Chinese government gave him importance.
Do you actually realize that the same argument could have been made about 'entartete Kunst' in the 1920 and 1930s?
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premodernist
5 April 2011 12:59PM
To his detractors: He's good artist that is why he successful internationally. To dismiss his political stance with careerism is cynical and petty. You should really find about more about he and his work
I did find out more about him and his work - that's why I'm cynical and petty.
Your opinions on Ai Wei Wei's art aside, do you think he should be disappeared 'Nazi style' just for speaking his mind?
Nobody should, of course not. But Ai Weiwei is for me, the boy who cried wolf - and we all know how that story ended. I hope he's lucky. I hope he escapes the wolf's teeth one more time but sooner or later, I hope he either gives it a rest .... or becomes a genuine dissident or possibly even a genuine artist.
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8Wheels
5 April 2011 1:00PM
last one was @LouLarry
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allanthehedgehog
5 April 2011 1:05PM
@ 8Wheels,
I agree with that post about his art only being appreciated because of his political opinions. Guy is a genius mind. West is lapping it up. On a more sombre note Free Ai Wie Wie, I can't stand this government paranoia
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carltonfairweather
5 April 2011 1:30PM
unfortunately, it looks like he'll become another disposable hero of hypocrisy
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allanthehedgehog
5 April 2011 1:52PM
I actually have no opinion on his art, I haven't had the chance to experience it. Can you explain why his art is so important in subverting c.c.p. authority? Is that the idea? I understand you're horrified he has been detained or 'disappeared' which seems a far worse fate for someone who should be one of China's stars. I wonder if Yao Ming would like to pass comment. I have big time respect for Wei Wei because while other millionaires like Jet Li, Zhang Zhiyi and the other guy from 'To Live' fall over themselves to star in new age propaganda flicks like 'Birth of a Republic' which whitewash censorship and suffering, Wei Wei puts it on the line to stand up for the oppressed. Free Him.
@8Wheels,
Good to see your back, you're not pissed off with me are you?
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hazelmotes7
5 April 2011 1:53PM
Neither/ Nor Mr. Jones...Equivalence between the imitation seeds on the Turbine Hall floor and the Sistine Chapel?!!
It is neither true in regard to fame, nor impact. Have you never read about the
measures that had to be taken even before Michelangelo finished the ceiling to keep the curious at bay. After it opened it became a pilgrimage sight instantly and has remained so. (The Vatican's tribulations on keeping the floors clean is worth the reading.)
The impact I have trouble personally accessing as I've not seen it; nonetheless, I can access the ripple effect of friends returning from London; if this measure is any guide, then the whole question, and comparison you've made is hopelessly hyperbolic.
Steady Mr.Jones, you sound a febrile note here, & I think you won't find many
to stand with you.
This is the sort of exaggeration advertisers are paid to make during the presidential campaigns every four years in the United States.
Compare tall buildings instead, more in keeping,
Leonard Bullock
Basel, Switzerland
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Lewelltam
5 April 2011 2:14PM
Jonathon - Is this guy seriously a great artist worthy of comparison to a genuine master? Would he have got any fraction of the press he has managed to mine from the media had he not been born Chinese? Can a man who took on a huge government project such as The Bird's Nest - a part of a process of regeneration which was understood beforehand by all involved to be one which would fuck-over a huge number of the poor living in Beijing - be held-up as a great moral critic of the regime? Is he not going to make a massive personal profit when he sells those porcelain seeds and all that they're supposed to represent to hungry Westerners? Are any of these valid questions?
I don't see him as a moral champion, but rather as a perfect symbol for our times. I hope that he's okay.
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premodernist
5 April 2011 2:27PM
GUARDIAN JOURNALISTS
I would like to ask you directly if any of you or your Beijing correspondent - Tania Brannigan - knew that Ai Weiwei turned up at Beijing airport telling the authorities that he planned to travel on to Taiwan after Hong Kong - as has been reported elsewhere in the media? If you did, can you tell us why there is no mention of this very pertinent fact in your reporting? I can't help feeling it might have put a completely different slant on things.
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hazelmotes7
5 April 2011 2:43PM
________after returning to my desk, I read J.Jones' article again, and as I often feel this might be interpreted as mere devils advocacy.
Weiwei has powerful friends all around the world, and considering his charisma & his appeal to the western media, perhaps he has decided his days in China are numbered, and if he is going to fly the coop, then he ought to do it in a flurry of world wide publicity.
I have friends here in Basel who have worked on the planned city that he instigated in north China. He was able to select some of the most interesting young architects and green planners. He basically had carte blanch in that venture. It is admirable, but it contributes more to a picture of his "artistic" personae as more that of a Lebenskünstler, than artist. Someone for whom their life is a form of art.
That is an oversimplification, of course, but I think it is fair. There is a great deal of this in the art world now, and the press is always responsive to this approach,
as writing about art objects is extremely difficult, & often thankless.
So perhaps Ai Weiwei could more astutely be compared to Bob Geldof
than Michelangelo______________& perhaps he ought to be short listed for
a knighthood.
I doubt he'd reject that.
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stoneageman
5 April 2011 2:49PM
8Wheeels
Do you actually realize that the same argument could have been made about 'entartete Kunst' in the 1920 and 1930s?
Completely different. Degenerate art was art that was breaking new ground, it was breaking with tradition and an anthema to the Nazi Party. Contemporary art isn't breaking new ground, it is retreading and retreading the same old modernist stuff but now it is 2nd rate and mannered. The Chinese government doesn't have a problem with Ai WeiWei's art, in fact they love it and embrace it as it shows China as modern and on par with the west in cultural terms. China has a problem with Ai WeiWei's political posturing and biting the hand that fed him.
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crayon
5 April 2011 3:09PM
premodernist
Interesting point. This from The Art Newspaper website in December:
Ai Weiwei looks to Taiwan
Web only Published online 31 Dec 10 Expect political fireworks in 2011 with plans by controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to mount an exhibition at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan from October, giving the Chinese authorities another headache, no doubt. Headline-hitting Ai Weiwei, whose sunflower seeds installation is currently wowing the crowds at Tate Modern in London, was reportedly barred from leaving China earlier this month while the artist's studio in Shanghai is set to be demolished by the Chinese government.
LINK
I hope we hear good news soon but it does seem unhelpful of the media to conflate a predictable and predicted stand off with the recent worrying political turn of events.
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TOMFPM
5 April 2011 3:25PM
Bottomline is free ai wei wei immediately !
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Nobul
5 April 2011 3:41PM
I totally agree with His Holiness, Premodernist and LouLarry. Met Ai Wei Wei back in 2000 or 2001 in a Beijing tea house opening party full of the Beijing salon crowd. He was all over us - a couple of young upstart investment bankers that were considered "big money" in those days before the seriously rich mushroomed in China and silly foreigners started to pay ridiculous money for Chinese "dissident" art which interestingly also mushroomed with the skyrocketing foreign price tag. Couldn't shake him the entire 2 hours we were there, we were annoyed with him because his pitch was too obvious and his presence prevented us from chatting up a pretty ballerina. This was before he made a name for himself in the West (there were also a few Western art historian/critic/dealers who were responsible for launching several Chinese "edgy art" types including Ai in the west in that crowd that night too) and he certainly did not proclaim any dissident ideals on that occassion. Went to his studio few days later and were really not impressed - a third-rate salon artist is just about the right discription. It was so pedestrian, the only thing I remember him by in the ensuing 10 years is his signiture goatee. Wei Wei has certainly polished his self promotion skills a lot in the last 10 odd years. He certainly has recognised the only sure way of catching Western attention (and paycheque) is to do the faux dissent thing. But then again how does any chinese artist make a name in the West without a hint of political "dissent"?
@ QueenElizabeth - didn't you notice he is always dissenting in front of foreign journalists just before some of his exhibitions are about to open in the West? I seriously doubt he is representing the concerns of Chinese people and channeling their messages to the leaders. I can't see him mingle with the "people", but with Hong Kong, Australian, German, British and American art dealers and publicists I can. I am sure there are less people in China know about Ai WeiWei than the number of readers of this article on the Guardian. He is a creature of the Western art market and the made-for-foreign-news paper-headline-dissent is his meal ticket. I think His Holiness is absolutely right, that his meal ticket is now worth millions, he also needs to push that "dissent" envolope a bit further to get in the spotlight, this time he might just get his plump backside kicked (I do think the Chinese government is over reacting and silly if they jail him for whatever stunt he has pulled and inadvently giving him more air time in the West. No one in China would know or care he got invited in for tea by the police. My guess is he will be out soon and go on his merry ways to the next Show in Taipei or London).
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premodernist
5 April 2011 4:19PM
Crayon & Nobul
Then I think I have my answer.
If Wei wei was a plc and his auction price a share price, then the manipulation of or misrepresentation of his activities which might have a bearing on those prices would be an offence. The artworld is going more and more in the direction of producing all kinds of graphs and tables and splitting the cost of 'investments' into smaller and smaller - almost share-sized - chunks. As yet, the regulations don't apply but they might one day soon, particularly if a 'fraudster/ image manipulator is found out and their price collapses.
However much we commenters may tease and taunt this newspaper on their tastes in art, the Guardian still does have a decent reputation for journalism. Why would anyone risk that good reputation I wonder, for the sake of one silly artist who may well be deliberately provoking the authorities into actions which misrepresent his own activities - for financial gain? I don't get it. At least I hope I don't.
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Nobul
5 April 2011 6:24PM
@premodernist - if you had followed the emergence of the post 90s modern Chinese art scene you would have known that there are a lot of mediocre artists doing mediocre art (certainly no Michelangelo have emerged in China yet, maybe it is a matter of time, but so far no one). Vast majority of them found no market neither domestically nor overseas. The few who had gained fame and fortune all have one thing in common - that their "art" are more celebrated and valued in the West than at home and the reason for that success is that they have been "discovered" then given the blue print and marketed by dare I say no more than 10 Western art/culture dealer/critics who showed up in Beijing in the mid to late 1990s (now it is a much more crowded market).
At first all the art available in Beijing were apolitical, the cutting edge of arts community of the time had just dared to move away from painting Mao/Deng portraits to some shy nudes, obviously too provincial to get an airing in the likes of the Tate. There were no interest in the West for modern Chinese art until the Tianmen Square incident and the subsequent exodus of some young artists to the West. Some smart sparks among them realised that the run of the mill Chinese style or western-style-by-Chinese-hands art had no market in the snobbish New York, London or Sydney galleries, but if you make it topical and political in light of the outrage felt in the West towards the "Tianmen Massacre", you can turn heads and make a name. As a result there were a avalanche of red paint drenched statues of liberty, a few million red tipped matchsticks covering the gallery floors, and other paintings of Red horror showed up around gallery and museums of modern art in the West by the early 90s and were proved to be a hit. Follwoing this wave of early modest success, a dozen or so Western art/cutural critics and dealers headed for Beijing. Their message to the hords of starving artists in China were simple - just do what your compatriots did in the West, make your arts somewhat political (can't be too explicit that would attract the attention of the authorities), and we would get our foreign correspondent buddies in China to drum up some pulse racing articles about samizdat art scene and dissident intellectual resistance to the oppressive communist regime then we can sell your mediocrity in the West or Hong Kong for decent money . As they say the rest is history, now we have Mao faces a la Warhol, ugly Chinese mugs in different contortions and billions of sunflower seeds adorning the Tate. This modern Chinese art trade has gained momentum as China rises and there are too much money to splash around by art collectors in the West (any self respecting expat banker in Hong Kong would not think twice about throw couple hundred thousand US dollars on a piece soft dissident political porn and that extends all the way to NY an London and beyond,yet no nouveau riche Chinese collector would pay a cent for the same). The unbroken thread to this growing market is that the top producers have to be constantly in the news (only western news required), as they generally fail in the artisitic creativity front, the news has to be from some pseudo dissident activities. It is a Pavlovian cycle of risque showmanship making public stand (the western reporters are the public in the most cases) against a social issue that somewhat put the government in a bad light but not bad enough to get them to be hopping mad, that would help rise the fame and fortune (definitely in recent years) which in turn requires even more daring dissent to keep the momentum going.
I would not go as far as calling it a fraud, but it is a convennient mutually beneficial arrangement between the art dealers, news hacks and the "artists" to keep the game going. Take the thin veneer of art, democracy and human rights away, it is really just a business. As with all businesses, they come with risks. Ai Wei Wei is experiencing that right now.
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opticus
5 April 2011 6:42PM
went to see the sunflower seeds the other day.
its not very interesting despite the pontification in the article and a myriad of others. not being able to interact with the installation is a bit like looking at the Sunflowers whilst wearing ( very dark) sunglasses, a bit pointless and missing the point.
But I do like the simile comparing AWW with one of his little seeds.
Obviously his ploy of getting so well known across the world so as to render himself untouchable by the authorities has not quite worked. I do not see how this situation will resolve itself, he is hardy likely to 'shut up' and they are unlikely to stop harassing him unless he does.
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daffyddw
5 April 2011 8:17PM
@YummieMummie and others
Why are the Chinese always so touchy? They really should stop acting like petty bully boys and leave him be.
Very good point but I think one undermined by our almost total and fatal ignorance of Chinese history (mine included!).
Of course arresting AWW is a stupid thing to do but anyone with the slightest knowledge of what China has gone through in the 19th and early 20th C would understand why the Chinese authorities are so, very really, terrified of instability: the Taiping rebellion (led by Christian cultists and responsible for, i believe, around 20-50 million deaths- yes it's so hard to be accurate)- the Opium wars (what a jolly moral lot we are)- the Japanese invasion and subsequent revolution and famine.
Unless we understand this any sort of understanding of China is impossible and attempts at dialogue only so much fatuous liberal wiffle.
And much as Pat Brill- aka B&R Smith- is a very nice bloke (he was a lecturer at Cardiff when I was there) i think he just looks silly.
Instead of that write to the Chinese ambassador and for god's sake- show some respect!
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daffyddw
5 April 2011 8:22PM
As fr the usual boring discussion about whether who is comparable to who and who's the chinese Michaelangelo and blah-de-blah- it's beyond fatuous and into the realm of satire.
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davidsouthafrican
5 April 2011 10:16PM
Ai Wei wei is one of my favourite artists who works in multiple media, and I wish him a speedy release and freedom of speech .
He is an heroic figure.
I cannot take the opinions of the armchair critics and professional do-nothing cynicists seriously. Whistleblowers inevitably get pilloried. Hats off to him
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crayon
5 April 2011 11:19PM
OK
For those who think suffering is a competition
TIME.com top ten persecuted artists
<bangs head on table>
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doublevision
5 April 2011 11:27PM
I hope he is released because he is a human being. I would point out that many lesser known artists do take moral stands, as do many lesser known people in many professions. I feel for him, but I equally feel for all the Chinese artists and dissidents, especially the less well-known ones, who probably have less people to defend them or help secure their release. Ethics are not based on celebrity status but actions. This is not ti diminish the plight of Wei Wei, but to point out he is one among many.
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doublevision
5 April 2011 11:28PM
Apologies for mis-spelling his name, I meant Weiwei.
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shanghaibobs
6 April 2011 12:58AM
However cynical one might be and whatever AWW's merits as an artist, his arrest strikes at the very basis of art.
As a famous and successful artist it would be easy for him to move overseas and criticise from the sidelines, but he didn't do that.
We don't know how this will end; he might be released quickly, or end up in a labour camp, or die of a heart attack in police custody.
What we do know for certain, however, is the true face of totalitarianism.
If the job of art is to explore all aspects of humanity you have to grant that AWW remains true to its ideals.
Would Tracey Emin or Damien Hirst risk their fortunes for the sake of freedom of expression? Not bloody likely!
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premodernist
6 April 2011 6:48AM
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fifthrow
6 April 2011 7:43AM
There is something quite disturbing in mythologising an artist as soon as they hit a bit of bother. Applaud the stamina for standing up for what one believes in - by all means - but invoking the past and alluding to a canonisation as a glorious political dissident is in terribly bad taste. This is not the time to be sensationalist. He is a person as well as an artist.
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 9:05AM
@Stoneageman
China has a problem with Ai WeiWei's political posturing and biting the hand that fed him.
This is about political art and political statements that are made through posture. What political activism that is not facilitated through posturing? They disappeared him Nazi-style because he spoke truth to power. If you think that freedom of expression is a privilege I suggest you leave the confines of your armchair and live in an authoritarian country for a while. You may quickly change your mind once bad things start happening to people you are close to.
@Allanthehedgehog
Not mad at all. Good to see you here too.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 9:44AM
8wheels
This is about political art and political statements that are made through posture. What political activism that is not facilitated through posturing? They disappeared him Nazi-style because he spoke truth to power. If you think that freedom of expression is a privilege I suggest you leave the confines of your armchair and live in an authoritarian country for a while. You may quickly change your mind once bad things start happening to people you are close to.
If you deliberately provoke so that you can portray yourself as a 'victim' in the media and profit from that media coverage, then you have no right to claim that you are a bone fide dissident - what you are is the architect and engineer of your own misfortunes.
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jonathanjones
6 April 2011 9:44AM
I did not claim any "equivalence" between the Turbine Hall and the Sistine Chapel except in public scale and impact. Wildly different as they are, these two artists exist effectively on a political stage and use their fame courageously.
This scandal however goes way beyond art. I do not think it is only for the 'art world' to be concerned. This is a deeply disturbing moment in China and everyone should speak up for human rights. Art criticism has nothing to do with it.
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stoneageman
6 April 2011 9:50AM
8Wheels
This is about political art and political statements that are made through posture. What political activism that is not facilitated through posturing?
He's playing to a western bourgeois audience, which won't do his career much harm. Shouldn't he be talking to a Chinese audience?
He's probably estimating how far he can go without too dire consequences for himself.
What would you have the west do, invade China? The west is capitalist, it won't put commerce at risk for an individual, that is the sort of freedom loving society we live in but people like you are too busy being distracted by other people's affairs to realise your freedoms are severely limited and you are regularly pissed on from a great height but you just don't notice.
8Wheels
They disappeared him Nazi-style because he spoke truth to power.
You mean like extraordinary rendition and torture in consenting countries?
8Wheels
If you think that freedom of expression is a privilege I suggest you leave the confines of your armchair and live in an authoritarian country for a while.
You live in a society where freedom of expression is a privilege but you are too occupied with western smugness to realise it.
8Wheels
You may quickly change your mind once bad things start happening to people you are close to.
It does happen in the west and bad things do happen to people who the establishment fear. They might not put a bullet in their head but they destroy them.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 9:57AM
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stoneageman
6 April 2011 10:03AM
premodernist
Staging an exhibition in Taiwan was always going to cause problems for Ai Weiwei - as crayon said above, a 'showdown' of some kind was predicted and predictable - why didn't you report this? Why have you linked it to wider events in China? Is the artworld so desperate for a 'dissident hero' ?
People forget, particularly people like 8Wheels, an American artist holding an exhibition in Havana would provoke a similar response from the US authorities.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 10:08AM
Here you go Jonathan, from the English version of the Chinese state newspaper:
Ai Weiwei is an activist. As a maverick of Chinese society, he likes "surprising speech" and "surprising behavior." He also likes to do something ambiguous in law. On April 1, he went to Taiwan via Hong Kong. But it was reported his departure procedures were incomplete.
What sort of treatment would you expect UK or US authorities to dish out if someone thought they were above, say, visa requirements?
It's a farce. You're creating a monster which one day you'll also have to try to control.
Quite right Stoneageman.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 10:47AM
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premodernist
6 April 2011 11:02AM
Alternative Headline:
"MODERN-ARTWORLD CLIQUE CLOSES RANKS TO JUSTIFY FAITH IN LIE WEIWEI"
Subheaded; "Bob & Roberta spots a bandwagon".
:-))))))
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 11:25AM
@stoneageman, @premodernist
You're buying wholeheartedly into the Chinese line. They are shutting up a dissident voice. You know it and your are condoning it. Don't rationalize something that is not rational to begin with. You are just putting yourself in the 50 Cent Party corner otherwise.
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jonathanjones
6 April 2011 11:40AM
I agree with 8wheels.
This is not about the art world, or tradition versus installation art, or anything else except a deliberately vicious attempt to silence one of the regime's most eloquent critics and so to scare everyone else into submission.
But actually it is a stupid act, that suggests the Chinese state is genuinely scared of the Arab Spring and its wonderful claim that what the whole world wants is democracy.
In sort-of-half-tolerating critics like Ai Weiwei and allowing them to make their art the Communist regime sowed confusion in the west and disguised the extent of state brutality in China, at least enough to fool those desperate to be fooled.
But now we know. This will damn China's authoritarian rulers and help to undo them.
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 11:51AM
@jonathanjones
I would add that he has managed to evade the authorities for so long precisely because a lot of his criticism was veiled in artistic expression that was probably not that easy to grasp for the meatheads in the regime.
For anyone into badly written (state-sponsored) nonsense, here is the only attempt the Chinese government has made to explain its Gestapo-style tactics. It's like reading Squealer's diatribes about Snowball in Orwell's animal farm, except that it's a lot more clumsy. I am surprised that they haven't gotten any better at this kind of propaganda.
http://en.huanqiu.com/opinion/editorial/2011-04/641187.html
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premodernist
6 April 2011 12:16PM
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 12:24PM
@Premodernist
Your points are completely irrelevant to this debate. This is not a discussion of his work but about condemning the actions of an oppressive regime. You either condemn what they did or you don't. You clearly belong to the latter.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 12:31PM
8Wheels
Your points are completely irrelevant to this debate. This is not a discussion of his work but about condemning the actions of an oppressive regime. You either condemn what they did or you don't. You clearly belong to the latter.
Wrong. They are completely relevant to this debate. If he knew that the authorities would take a dim view of his trip to Taiwan - which even I know they would (as the US takes a dim view of certain trips to Cuba or Israel refuses to let anyone in through various of it's borders) - then all that is left to discover is whether or not the timing of his arrest could have been avoided. Was he to be arrested anyway? Or did he deliberately precipitate it in order to be associated with a more general crackdown?
How can I condemn or condone? Obviously, I would prefer a world in which no-one ever needed to be arrested for anything but so far, the Chinese have said, in effect "he thinks he's above the law, but he isn't" - What law?
Unlike you, I prefer to wait for the facts.
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hazelmotes7
6 April 2011 12:36PM
Has anyone heard definitively how Weiwei's arrest transpired?
I'm still curious about this, in similar vein as <premodernist>, because I, also
am suspicious of motives. In other words did the artist flip the chinese authorities
off; like you don't dare touch me now.
Is he in other words, complicit in his own quagmire?
It doesn't change the fact that he has been unfairly harassed by the government,
but there are some things that are predictable.
Step on the Tigers tail...
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 12:46PM
@premodernist
There is only one fact here to be taken into consideration and that is his extra-legal disappearance, which even you cannot deny. If you refuse to acknowledge that he has disappeared at the hands of the authorities then there is little point for debating with you here.
@hazelmotes
According to the 'tiger's tail' logic all resistance and challenges to authoritarian regimes is futile.
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Nobul
6 April 2011 12:48PM
@8Wheels " I am surprised that they haven't gotten any better at this kind of propaganda." looking at your comments redolent with cold war propaganda jingos, I am surprised you haven't gotten any better at this kind of propaganda. Btw what happened to the other 8 wheels?
@jonathanjones - in what way is Ai "the most eloquent critique of the communist regime"? As premodernist hightlighted above, even Amnesty admitted that Ai had nothing to do with the Sichuan protest where he tried to steal the limelight, is that the prove he is an eloquent critique? Has it ever entered into your mind that all those "successful" artists in the Chinese art world are no different from their brethrens in the Chinese business world, they are successful because they are the parasites in the very system, they survive through working and abuse the system and pulling the wool over the eyes of innocents (I am being generous here) like you in the West. Real dissidents, human rights activists in China have no money, no rich friends in high place and certainly have no cover in the foreign press after some grandstanding, and they are the one rotting away in jails but we would never see any western journalists go to the trouble to find them and write about them, certainly not by an art commentator. There is a sly showman and there are thousands of people doing real fight against every day injustices, I can see the difference, but not sure there are too many on this thread.
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 12:50PM
@premodernist
PS: If you knew anything about how 'the law' operates in China you would know that there won't be any 'facts' provided by the authorities. If charges are filed at all, which is not always commom, they will not be made available to the public. You can however expect more newspaper editorials about alleged 'state subversion' but without evidence to back up these claims.
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8Wheels
6 April 2011 1:05PM
@Nobul
This is not a dogmatic debate about Communism versus Capitalism. If you care to read my posts on other threads you will find that I am only a very reluctant 'capitalist' for lack of a better word and that I find no value in political dogma, Western or Eastern, Rightist or Leftist, Atheist or Theist.
If you care to label me as a dogmatic political propagandist instead of debating the issue at hand with me, whilst accusing me of posting under double names (if I understand your entendre correctly?), that is your prerogative. It says a lot more about you than it does about me though.
Maybe you will find others more willing to trade barbs about 'capitalist parasites' with you here but please do stop accosting me. Thanks.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 1:09PM
8Wheels
There is only one fact here to be taken into consideration and that is his extra-legal disappearance, which even you cannot deny. If you refuse to acknowledge that he has disappeared at the hands of the authorities then there is little point for debating with you here.
To me, you come across as, how shall I put it? "barking mad" to be talking about "extra legal disappearance" - how do you know it isn't a simple arrest on suspicion of having committed a genuine offence? Do you describe all arrests in all countries in these terms?
If you knew anything about how 'the law' operates in China
I bow to your superior knowledge of chinese law.
Let me be clear, I fully condone the protests against arrest and detention without charge, without justification, for purely political motives, etc. but I'm not yet convinced that any of these apply to Ai Weiwei.
You are condemning out of hand and with only the enlightening words of our arts journalists resounding in your head, a government and country of 1.5 billion people.
Real dissidents, human rights activists in China have no money, no rich friends in high place and certainly have no cover in the foreign press after some grandstanding, and they are the one rotting away in jails but we would never see any western journalists go to the trouble to find them and write about them, certainly not by an art commentator. There is a sly showman and there are thousands of people doing real fight against every day injustices, I can see the difference, but not sure there are too many on this thread.
Absolutely Nobul.
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damienhirst
6 April 2011 1:23PM
well, in this case I can see a curious paradox. of course it's quite sad and tragic what is going on in this case but at the same time I do wonder would ai weiwei even and the rest of chinese artists have the relevance they seem to be enjoying today if they were not part of such an oppressing and violent environment? I mean tragically what is happening to him now is what made him successful and known as an artist in the first place. if china was tomorrow turns into a democratic country supporting all personal rights and personal freedom then most of these chinese artist might not have anything to say anymore.
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hazelmotes7
6 April 2011 1:25PM
@8Wheels
There are different levels of protest & my sympathies are meted out accordingly.
No question, we must support Weiwei's return from incarceration. That goes
without saying, but I support gestures in a different way from people who,
in the process of trying to achieving something significant, like a work of art
potentially can be; in this case I am whole heartedly behind him or anyone
being restricted for activities they choose, but are restrained from accomplishing.
I will add my name to those who say, release Weiwei immediately.
Nonetheless, I feel the same nagging intuition of self promotion here that
I felt when the Nicolas Serrano "Piss Christ" flap occured in the U.S.
I had no alternative but back Serrano against Senator Jesse Helms, but
in the end I felt that they might just have well worked together on fanning
the flames of the conflict. So I signed petitions in support of reinstating the
work in that show.
There have been circumstances where I have done things like this more
wholeheartedly. I just hated doing it for what I considered, and still consider
a thoroughgoing mediocre work.
In this moment the arts community is compelled to back Weiwei, and I have
done willingly. However, I do suspect coquetry, and this sort of behavior might
endanger other, not so celebrated artists in the near future if this turns out
to be so.
Concerted strategies to change this sate of affairs in China, I welcome.
I very much doubt this action will have the desired effect. The authorities in
China have been long inured to embarrassment.
I wait for more information about this event. Naturally, I'm worried for
Weiwei's safety.
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stoneageman
6 April 2011 2:37PM
8Wheels
You're buying wholeheartedly into the Chinese line.
I'm no more buying into the Chinese line than I am buying into a western capitalist line.
8Wheels
They are shutting up a dissident voice. You know it and your are condoning it.
They aren't. Ai WeiWei is getting what he wants right now. PUBLICITY!
If Ai WeiWei really is a dissident and cares for his fellow down trodden compatriots, why did he associated himself with bulldozing so many of them out of the way for his BIG INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC PROJECT?
8Wheels
Don't rationalize something that is not rational to begin with.
I'm not rationalizing, I'm just more street wise than you, I know when I see a western style celebrity self-publicist when I see one.
8Wheels
You are just putting yourself in the 50 Cent Party corner otherwise.
Don't know what you mean.
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premodernist
6 April 2011 3:22PM
8Wheel
PS: If you knew anything about how 'the law' operates in China you would know that there won't be any 'facts' provided by the authorities. If charges are filed at all, which is not always commom, they will not be made available to the public
Uh huh. Since you have China all pegged out and any 'dissenter' - even faux dissenters- are right while the state is automatically the 'evil empire', here's an interesting one for you . According to the tofutimes website, a young (Chinese) student pianist (21) knocked over a woman. She received minor injuries and a fracture but when the young man got out of the car and saw the woman writing down his number plate - he went into a rage and stabbed her 8 times, killing her, then sped off knocking over two other people in the process.
Now the village to which the woman belonged - as one - called for the death sentence when the young man was caught. They even started a petition and attracted a huge number of supporters. So you'd think that such an evil empire would be happy to oblige wouldn't you? After all, he was nothing special, not the son of a party official or anything - although he was considered to be of a 'superior class' to the woman.
But no, through the Chinese state television, a case was made to have his charge reduced from first degree murder to a 'crime of passion', which would mean imprisonment and not the death penalty.
Outraged by this "injustice", numerous blogs sprang up across China and 'dissenters' are accusing the Chinese government of "siding with murderers". A Yahoo online vote polled 10710 people in favour of immediate execution with only 58 in favour of a life sentence. You can read the basics of the story HERE.
Who are the human rights abusers in this case? It's a big country with some strange value systems. I think we sit in ignorant judgement at our peril.
P.S. the trial was typically a public one (though I'm sure you knew that with your in depth knowledge of Chinese law) with the judge even inviting thousands of college students to witness. 400 of whom were allowed a vote which might influence the outcome. Again, the blogging dissenters were outraged because most of these went to the same college as the young pianist.
"State bad - people good" seeming a bit naiive to you now?
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hazelmotes7
6 April 2011 10:32PM
Two comments: 1) first for @8Wheels
Remarkable comment about posture being of the essence of political activism.
Many political statements are made by other means. Rosa Parks wasn't posturing
when she demanded a seat reserved for whites on an Alabama bus. She was
risking her physical well being, but I do not find that to be the same as posturing.
Another excellent example is recorded in Hans Fallada's "Every Man Dies Alone".
A novel, but strictly true to the source. A german couple watched their son go off to
war in the early 1940's. He was killed very early in the first battles. With reflection
they became more agitated, feeling their son had died for no good reason.
They began a campaign of writing protest postcards and posting the anonymously
on the bulletin boards of apartment houses and other buildings in Berlin.
The Gestapo became so incensed, they organized a special task force to find
the perpetrators of this crime.
Eventually they did, and the couple were brought before a Gestapo hearing, &
then summarily executed.
This is a "true historical tale". In my opinion it is also one of the greatest
political/ conceptual art interventions of the 20th century.
What was their posture, 8Wheels?
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
2) J.Jones______In your article in which you compared Ai Weiwei
(Turbine Hall) with Michelangelo(Sistine Chapel), you compared them in terms
of "fame" and "impact". Not <scale> & <impact> as you have recounted above.
Scale is something that is often a minor aspect of art. There are works of
enormous scale which have little resonance. Most of us have grown cold and
vague enough to have forgotten the themes of some of our national war
memorials. They are frequently of great scale.
Had you compared Van Gogh or Nancy Spero for that matter to Ai Weiwei
along those lines; your choice of measurements; either of the other artists
might appear at the moment wanting, in part because Weiwei has played
the media so well that he has ascended the heights to international stardom.
He has become a symbol of our time.
But need we speak about his art production as part of this demonstration?
That probably won't be clear for some time.
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I still argue that his fame and his impact in his own time does not measure to
that of Michelangelo. This was the comparison you made. I suspect it is an
exaggeration for effect.
Obviously, you are quite knowledgeable in relation to Michelangelo & Da Vinci.
I have read several biographies of Michelangelo, and I've had close colleagues
who did protean work on major monographs, but I feel this could descend into
T.S. Eliot's cocktail party where, "women come and go, speaking of
Michelangelo...".
Maybe he IS more famous than Jesus, and that's the whole point.
For some of us we feel that we are in Weiwei's corner, whether we are there
under duress, or emotional extortion, or justly to dignify the rights of free
movement of men & women, and ideas.
This we who still believe these to be inalienable rights must vigorously
support. In this case, as in many in which we follow the flow of the media, we
have little choice in the matter of who we support.
In the end art criticism, that which has been scarcely on display in this issue,
will matter immensely, because as in many other political events, it will separate
the aesthetic wheat from the chaff. & that will inevitably alter our sense of the
larger moral consequence of this artist's actions.
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allanthehedgehog
7 April 2011 12:59AM
@ 8Wheels,
I'm afraid I do kind of agree with premodernist, Ai Wei Wei clearly provokes for the sake of it, or his rep in the west, and premodernist displayed a great list of evidence which the Guardian consistently and conveniently omitts. Remember this doesn't mean we support his detention but as for the judiciary operating in secret, in the case of Chen Liangu anyway, this doesn't neccessarily mean the defendent is innocent. Chen was far from it but none the less was detained and convicted without due process. One could argue that is irreconsiliable with justice but the guy certainly deserved it. The tickle and dragons tail thing is very apt, what about cali's 3 and out? Does that ensure appropraite sentences? I know i'm rammbling cause I lost my train of thought ages ago can you help me.
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8Wheels
7 April 2011 1:17AM
@hazelmotes
You may disagree with my opinion about political stances/posturing or the worth of Ai Wei Wei's art but I think we have some common ground in saying that disappearing inconvenient people is not a good thing, to say the least.
At the moment it looks like they are about to release some trumped up charges about 'economic crimes' having been committed. This will surely be reason enough for the appeasers of our day to say 'I told you so.' They know as much about China as King Edward did about the Germany of the 1930s.
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jsgbuckton
7 April 2011 3:55AM
This must be the reason why Chinese art galleries are all so very, very boring: they lock up all the interesting artists.
5000 years of "civilisation" and yet this.
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hazelmotes7
7 April 2011 6:57AM
Yeah, @8Wheels, I am not trying to justify the actions of the chinese govn.___
heaven forfend.
I'm just saying I am suspicious of motives in this case, or behavior, which seems
high handed. Weiwei knows who he's dealing with, and therefore what to
expect.
& I think it's important for him to remember that there are other "dissidents" who
don't have the luxury of being shadowed by the western & a great many in the
eastern press, it has been reported___________just poor schmucks who have
quietly try to achieve change through civil disobedience.
There's no justification for just taking an artist, or any individual off public
conveyance and throwing them into a dark cell on whim.
{nor for flying suspects to third countries to be more rigorously interrogated.}
Still, if I get on a plane & fly to Pakistan, burn a Koran on the tarmac, & parade
around the street with a sign strapped to my body justifying it as an act in
pursuit of greater freedom of expression, then you can not expect the same
kind of solidarity as those who have to take risks in their daily life.
I have exaggerated in my anecdote, I hope that's clear to all, but I, and
@premodern_____seemingly, are calling for a more fine tuned distinctions.
& until this point we don't have enough to go on ...
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premodernist
7 April 2011 7:38AM
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
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stoneageman
7 April 2011 9:29AM
jsgbuckton
This must be the reason why Chinese art galleries are all so very, very boring: they lock up all the interesting artists.
Have you seen western art galleries lately? There must be a reason why western art galleries are so boring: they only show artists that fit the profile of the current orthodoxy.
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8Wheels
7 April 2011 10:06AM
@hazelmotes
People like Ai straddle a fine line between personal risk and courage and some people find this irresponsible and silly. I am glad these people are showing courage either way. Without them there would have been little progress throughout human history.
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Alarming
7 April 2011 10:42AM
A lot of shouty noise in here! I must confess I'm in the middle - I've never seen Weiwei's work, it doesn't sound that exciting but authoritarian governments also use the flimsiest of excuses to silence people so it's perfectly conceivable that it's not purely about tax.
The dilemma is about whether the high-profile dissidents help draw attention to the less high-profile ones or whether the attendant noise that surrounds them drowns everything else out. In the microclimate that is JJ's blog and the art world it seems the case but perhaps we need to look outwards to get a sense of perspective over this.
stoneageman don't you and premodernist show in western art galleries? You're not that boring are you? ;-)
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jonathanjones
7 April 2011 11:44AM
Come on, people.
Have you ever seen the film The Lives of Others, or read The Joke by Milan Kundera, or explored the twentieth century history of one party states that inspired such works? To take at face value anything the authorities accuse a known dissident of is ludicrous. If they are seeking to criminalise him that is absolutely at one with the old techniques of the Stasi, etc.
And has no one learned anything from the Arab spring? Democracy and human rights are universal needs. Not western propaganda.
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shakinwilly
7 April 2011 12:08PM
And has no one learned anything from the Arab spring? Democracy and human rights are universal needs. Not western propaganda.
Sounds good. And in addition to those universal needs are western needs, as opposed to western propaganda. Have you checked your front news page? Leaders of Libyan rebels being made to sign documents promising to pay millions in compensation to IRA and Lockerbie victims. And of course they'll be having to honour oil contracts. And if they don't like it there are all those bombers flying overhead. Democracy or imperialism?
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crayon
7 April 2011 12:28PM
Come on, people.
I think 'people' have a reasonable expectation that their free press should have the self-awareness not to become a denouncy, distorty, belittling mirror image of the Chinese propaganda machine.
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stoneageman
7 April 2011 3:36PM
Alarming
stoneageman don't you and premodernist show in western art galleries? You're not that boring are you? ;-)
I'm afraid so! :-(
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HisHoliness
7 April 2011 6:47PM
I am no art connoisseur and had stayed away from critiquing Ai Weiwei's artistic talents. But I had always thought his art a kinda of flakey and laughed at anyone pretentious enough to pay big bucks for them. From the comments in this thread it looks like there is consensus that Ai's art is unremarkable and forgettable. No one has yet brought up any specific work of his or how his art depicts the protest against China's oppression he claims to champion. Instead we get pretty far fetched attacks against China's human rights.
All the events so far have been very predictable. Ai had been baiting the Chinese authorities for years and making a lot of money off (Western) kitsch art collectors with more money than good sense. But its their money and their self image and they are free to do whatever they want.. Ai knows how to milk them. It is the self promotional baiting the dragon part that is even more predictable. He would cross the line one day and be given a free pass to stay in a government facility. It happened. Now the Chinese authorities know well that to arrest someone like AI would would immediately raise howls of outrage from Western liberals. As a cause of public disorder Ai's art and faux protests is pretty low down the totem pole and certainly not worth the trouble. The Chinese authorities are not stupid. My reading of the tea leaves is that the authorities have more serious charges on Ai Weiwei than you (Western liberals?) have attributed to Wei. I certainly hope so for they will show how unthinking you have been.
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8Wheels
8 April 2011 5:04AM
@HisHoliness
No one has yet brought up any specific work of his or how his art depicts the protest against China's oppression he claims to champion.
I think the sunflower seeds are a pretty good example and the article and several commentators mentioned this installation. Your dislike of his work is also quite irrelevant in that it is about oppression of artists and dissidents and not the merits of his art at all.
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HisHoliness
8 April 2011 5:19AM
8Wheels: 8 April 2011 5:04AM
I think the sunflower seeds are a pretty good example and the article and several commentators mentioned this installation.
So how do his sunflower seeds represent Ai's opinions about the Chinese government's oppression?
Your dislike of his work is also quite irrelevant in that it is about oppression of artists and dissidents and not the merits of his art at all.
To be offended by the artists their works of art must cause offense. If not then its their other "anti-government" non art behavior. In that case they are ordinary "anti social" dissidents that attracted the authorities' reaction. Their art had nothing to do with it and it wouldn't be the oppression of artists.
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8Wheels
8 April 2011 8:34AM
@HisHoliness
So how do his sunflower seeds represent Ai's opinions about the Chinese government's oppression?
I am sure you are quite capable of figuring that out yourself.
In that case they are ordinary "anti social" dissidents that attracted the authorities' reaction.
Or, as the Chinese authorities would argue (and concure with you), he's an ordinary criminal in that he broke the law by inciting subsversion.
You don't need to use so many words to condone his arrest. Your democratic deficit is visible either way. |
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