2012年12月24日星期一
2012年11月26日星期一
Sir Elton’s tribute to Ai Weiwei hits wrong note with authorities
RT @wentommy: 《泰晤士报》埃尔顿·约翰爵士在北京的第一场演唱会（很可能木有第二次了）上，对台下上万名歌迷说，整个演出将献给艾未未。这番表白让在场的文化部官员如坐针毡。http://goo.gl/qMUXa
2012年11月24日星期六
Book of defiance
英国金融时报《反抗的书》书评，赞赏艾未未将出版的新书：《艾未未主义》。此书将由普林斯顿大学出版社出版。评论写道：这本书是艺术家的想法，收集各种时代问题。
‘Ai Weiwei-isms’ collects the artist’s thoughts on a variety of contemporary issues
Ai Weiwei is the most important artist working in the most interesting country in the world right now. If he is finding it a burden, he hides it well. Notwithstanding a troubling spell in captivity last year, Ai refuses to be silenced. It is partly a matter of historical determinism: the world needs a prominent Chinese dissident around which to frame its reservations over that country’s remarkable rise to power. For obvious reasons, that figure is unlikely to come from the worlds of business or politics. But Ai’s resistance is also a matter of simple courage. The price paid for free artistic expression is easily forgotten in the culturally hegemonic west.
Next month sees the publication of a new book, Ai Weiwei-isms, that collects the artist’s thoughts on a variety of contemporary issues. They are epigrammatic, pungent, uncompromising. And of course they deliberately echo the format of a small book that became one of the most widely read, and ill-understood, publications of the past century.
I turn to the back of my dog-eared copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, aka The Little Red Book, bought many years ago for the price of a cup of tea from Collets bookshop on Charing Cross Road, and find some sobering reflections on culture. “There is in fact no such thing as art for art’s sake,” asserts Mao confidently, “art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics.” He says he wants “a hundred flowers [to] blossom, a hundred schools of thought [to] contend”. But it is important that they blossom and contend in the right way. “An army without culture is a dull-witted army,” concludes the chairman, “and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.”
Ai Weiwei has become the enemy within China, and his far from dull-witted new book is an affront to Mao, from its first pages: “A small act is worth a million thoughts,” he writes. “Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.” Enough of sloganeering, he is saying. It is what you do that counts.
In an era where performance art is increasingly valued for the purity of its impact, Ai’s performances are the boldest of all. His art is only ever about one thing, which is the ability to make his art without impediment.
“My work has always been political, because the choice of being an artist is political in China.” His “Sunflower Seeds” installation in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, consisting of millions of handmade porcelain “seeds”, was an oblique reference to the power of China’s mighty population, and the possibilities through social media of promoting freedom of expression. At other times Ai’s art is more direct. His 2009 work “Remembering” had a message emblazoned on the front of Munich’s Haus der Kunst museum: “She Lived Happily for Seven Years in this World”. The quotation came from the mother of a seven-year-old girl killed in the 2008 Szechuan earthquake; the words were formed with thousands of coloured school rucksacks. It was a criticism of lax building standards that have been blamed for the high death toll, and also a moving statement of grief.
. . .
To bring Ai’s reflections bang up to date, I asked him this week, via the book’s editor, Larry Warsh, to compose a new “Ai Weiwei-ism” on the recent transfer of power in China. Could it make a difference? Was there cause for optimism?
Ai’s response was not a hopeful one. “I am completely disillusioned with the recent shift of power. I don’t think it’s even possible for this machine to produce an optimistic possibility or a language of positive change, it is so dysfunctional. [The government] knows that any sort of change will bring down the whole empire.” Ai hopes that his book will act as a kind of primer for young people who will get “very precisely and quickly, a sense of my struggle, what I have to say, and who I am. This book is a friendly book.”
Friendly like a torpedo. The Chinese authorities know they have a problem on their hands with Ai. He is truculent, unafraid, and is just about the shrewdest user of social media around. He is up for the fight. “No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy; no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace.” His antagonists have but a feeble counter-attack: “The government computer has one button: delete.”
Who knows if Ai Weiwei-isms will become a best-seller? But here is a man who understands how to get messages to people. His expertise in artful dissemination is the 21st-century equivalent of Andy Warhol’s brilliant populism. How Warhol would have loved the irony of the world’s moneyed elites vying for Ai’s work at auction, while the artist does all he can to disrupt China’s hitherto deft transition to capitalism.
It is a space worth watching. No one knows that better than Ai himself. “[People] always tell me, ‘Weiwei, leave the nation, please.’ Or ‘Live longer and watch them die.’ Either leave, or be patient and watch how they die. I really don’t know what I’m going to do.”
‘Ai Weiwei-isms’ by Ai Weiwei is published by Princeton University Press on December 12
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/fcfead40-33db-11e2-9ce7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2D6Wqe4OD
卫报
卫报：问答艾未未。除开房子，你买的最贵的东西是什么？答：栽赃的税务案件，我支付8百万人民币。什么可以改善你的生活质量？答：自由的表达自己。你最喜欢的一句话？答：“我” 本身，它代表着个人的力量。http://bit.ly/UXG9M9
Q&A: Ai Weiwei
'What single thing would improve the quality of my life? The freedom to express myself'
Artist Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957, the year his father Ai Qing, a revolutionary poet, was exiled by the Communist party. The family returned to Beijing in 1975. After studying at Parsons school of design in New York, he helped design the 2008 Olympics Bird's Nest stadium; other works include Sunflower Seeds. Openly critical of China's stance on human rights and democracy, he was arrested in 2011, imprisoned for two months and investigated for tax evasion. Last month he guest-edited the New Statesman. He is married to the artist Lu Qing, and has a son.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Myself, because I'm still alive.
Myself, because I'm still alive.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
That I have a bad memory.
That I have a bad memory.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Sloppiness.
Sloppiness.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
Property aside, what's the most expensive thing you've bought?
The opportunity to fight the fake tax case: I paid more than 8m RMB (£802,000) for it.
The opportunity to fight the fake tax case: I paid more than 8m RMB (£802,000) for it.
Where would you like to live?
Planet Earth.
Planet Earth.
What would your super power be?
My son – he gives me super power.
My son – he gives me super power.
What makes you unhappy?
Restrictions.
Restrictions.
Who would play you in the film of your life?
Anybody.
Anybody.
What is your favourite smell?
The scent of cleanliness.
The scent of cleanliness.
What is your favourite word?
"I" – it represents the power of the individual.
"I" – it represents the power of the individual.
What is your favourite book?
The dictionary.
The dictionary.
What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?
Nothing.
Nothing.
What is the worst thing anyone's ever said to you?
"You're an artist."
"You're an artist."
Cat or dog?
I love both, but I'm more a cat person.
I love both, but I'm more a cat person.
Is it better to give or to receive?
It's always better to give.
It's always better to give.
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Eating.
Eating.
What do you owe your parents?
Almost everything.
Almost everything.
What does love feel like?
Like being loved.
Like being loved.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
The chef who makes the dinner.
The chef who makes the dinner.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"I".
"I".
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
I'd change my birth date to 20 years later or earlier. I'd also edit my DNA to become a different species.
I'd change my birth date to 20 years later or earlier. I'd also edit my DNA to become a different species.
How do you relax?
I take walks in nature.
I take walks in nature.
What is the closest you've come to death?
Now, or the next moment, which we may never have.
Now, or the next moment, which we may never have.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
The freedom to express myself.
The freedom to express myself.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having a sense of superiority over the government.
Having a sense of superiority over the government.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Song Of The Grass-Mud Horse.
Song Of The Grass-Mud Horse.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
It counts to take action.
It counts to take action.
Tell us a secret
Not telling you.
Not telling you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/23/artist-ai-weiwei-interview
2012年11月19日星期一
Artist Ai Weiwei's six wishes for Xi Jinping
CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing
Asked for a list of his top 10 wishes to present to the newly installed leadership of Xi Jinping, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who fell foul of the government of Hu Jintao many times, said he had thousands.
“I have too many,” he said. “Ten wishes is too many, no one will want to read that many. How about five?”
Mr Ai, who collaborated with Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron on the design of the Bird’s Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics, was arrested in March last year as part of an overall crackdown on dissent. He was held in solitary confinement for 81 days before being released without charges.
He offered the the following – not five wishes but six.
1. Do not believe those who want to control the internet.
“They cannot even allow people to have their opinions on TV or in the newspapers. They have already blocked lots of international sites with the Great Firewall of China, but leave the domestic sites alone.
“Please, as a Chinese citizen, allow me to use the internet. Show the courage of a big nation.”
2. Please let artists express themselves.
“Accept different forms and colours from artists and poets and writers and musicians. It’s their job to offer a colourful landscape.”
3. Please introduce an independent justice system.
“Having an independent justice system lets everybody respect the law. And also have open trials for any crime. We have to have moral trust.”
4. Set out a schedule for high officials to reveal their assets.
“Say one or two years from now for senior officials to reveal their property. Every five or 10 years you have a big meeting and you say you will fight corruption. You have to give a schedule so that people will believe that what you are saying is true.”
5. Treat China’s ethnic minorities fairly.
“Give them some chance to have their own dignity. Their traditions. Their beliefs.”
6. Please let the government learn to tolerate people with different opinions.
“Set up some kind of communication, show you can tolerate different opinions. Not to see those who have different opinions as attacking the state power. Not to make different-thinking people disappear or put them in jail, or fabricate charges against them.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/1119/1224326785025.html
2012年11月16日星期五
winnipegfreepress
Artist, protestor Ai Weiwei shown as the real deal
In some come circles, the word "artist" might result in a free-association image of a pampered poseur, a person who lives on government grants and bites the hand that feeds him.
Please meet Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
He is best known for designing the so-called Birds Nest Stadium for the Beijing Olympics. When the eyes of the world were upon him, he organized a boycott of the Olympics on the grounds that the games painted a benign picture of the Chinese government. This was at odds with reality, which was that the regime displaced thousands from their homes to build Olympic facilities, and discouraged ordinary Chinese citizens from participating in the ordinary social intercourse of the Olympics.
This documentary by Philadelphia journalist Alison Klayman duly documents Ai's process as one of the country's foremost artistic talents. But it is Ai's dogged dissidence that gives the film a sense of suspense that is, at times nerve-racking.
After all, the Chinese government is not known for its warm appreciation of its critics.
Ai comes by his contempt for authority honestly. His father was a poet who fell out of favour with the establishment during the Cultural Revolution, resulting in a campaign of shaming and brutal harassment. Ai himself spent 10 years in New York City, where he gained respect for American institutions that investigated government impropriety. (The Iran Contra hearings were, for Ai, a consciousness-expanding event.)
Ai utilizes the contemporary tools of dissidence. After his popular blog was shut down, he turned to Twitter to keep global attention on his own country's failures and abuses of power, which culminated in 2008 when an earthquake killed more than 68,000 people in Sichuan, including thousands of children who were buried under shoddily constructed "tofu" school structures.
While Ai has more freedom than most Chinese citizens (the camera follows him to his exhibits in London and New York), but he admirably refuses to protect his privilege. When he is attacked by a cop in a hotel room, he doggedly pursues justice, knowing that the system will close ranks against him. When the regime moves to destroy his studio, he organizes a dinner party to perversely celebrate the demolition.
Here in the west, it has become a cheap signifier to refer to an artist as "bold" or "brave" for works that merely ruffle feathers.
As portrayed by Klayman, Ai Weiwei is the real deal, an artist who refuses to equate his artistic freedom with the freedom afforded the average Chinese citizen.
Other voices
Excerpt of select reviews of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
"A fascinating portrait of a modern artist and activist trying to make a difference within China's repressive political system."
-- Tom Long, Detroit News
"A movie that somehow mixes apprehension for Ai with a feeling of warmth and, certainly, fun."
-- John Anderson, Newsday
"The struggle for free speech in China is given sharp, sobering, disturbing voice through the struggles of cutting edge, digitally savvy, Twitter-loving artist Ai Weiwei."
-- Jim Schembri, 3AW
"Klayman deserves a lot of credit for being in the right place at the right time with the right person. Ai is a treat to follow around, and his courage is clearly more than a pose."
-- Dan Lybarger, KC Active
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Directed by Alison Klayman
Cinematheque
PG
91 minutes
3 1/2 stars out of five
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 16, 2012 D6
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