Ai Weiwei , né le 28 août 1957 à Pékin, est un des artistes majeurs de la scène artistique indépendante chinoise, à la fois sculpteur, performer, photographe, architecte, commissaire d'exposition et blogueur.
Il est le fils du poète et intellectuel Ai Qing , et demi-frère du peintre Ai Xuan . Il est marié à l'artiste Lu Qing. Il a un fils, Ai Lao.
Architecte, il a été conseiller artistique pour le cabinet d'architecture suisse Herzog & de Meuron lors de la réalisation du stade national de Pékin construit pour les Jeux olympiques d'été de 2008.
Il est l'un des 303 intellectuels chinois signataires de la Charte 08. Dans son classement annuel, le magazine Art Review l'a désigné comme la figure la plus puissante de l'art contemporain en 2011 : « Son militantisme a rappelé comment l'art peut atteindre un large public et se connecter au monde réel ».
Ai Weiwei a été arrêté par la police le 3 avril 2011, officiellement pour évasion fiscale, et libéré sous caution le 22 juin 2011, après 81 jours d'enfermement dans un lieu inconnu et dans des conditions dégradantes, ce qui avait soulevé une vague d'indignation à travers le monde. Il reste en liberté conditionnelle et ne peut quitter Pékin sans autorisation, jusqu'au 22 juillet 2015, date à laquelle il récupère son passeport chinois.
“Not an inch of the land belongs to you, but every inch could easily imprison you.”
Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (9:10 a.m. May 21, 2010)
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12
“ House Arrest in China: Orwell, Kafka, and Ai Weiwei http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2012/04/house-arrest-china.” Economist, April 13, 2012
2010-, 2012
“But censorship by itself doesn’t work. It is, as Mao said, about the pen and the gun.”
2010-, China’s Censorship Can Never Defeat the Internet, 2012
2010-, Ai Weiwei: 'Every day I think, this will be the day I get taken in again...', 2011
2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011
“What does it matter if China’s economy grows when there are no basic protections for its citizens?”
2000-09, An Artist’s Ordeal. 2009
“ Ai Weiwei Talks Revolution, Shanghai Studio in New Time Out: HK. http://shanghaiist.com/2011/03/14/ai_weiwei_talks_revolution_shanghai.php” Time Out: Hong Kong, March 14, 2011.
2010-, 2011
“Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.”
“ Gold Is Not the Real Measure of a Nation http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/25/olympics2008.china,” Guardian, August 25, 2008.
2000-09, 2008
“My work has always been political, because the choice of being an artist is political in China.”
2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009
2010-, Ai Weiwei: The Dissident, 2011
2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009
Jones, Alice. “ Ten People Who Changed the World: Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist, Became a Truly Global Force http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/ten-people-who-changed-the-world-ai-weiwei-chinese-artist-became-a-truly-global-force-6282327.html.” Independent, December 31, 2011.
2010-, 2011
There is no sense of justice there. Why do I have to do this with them? Why do I have to argue or play this game?"
2010-, You’re There but You’re Not Existing, 2012
2010-, China’s Censorship Can Never Defeat the Internet, 2012
Ai Weiwei on Twitter in English (beta). http://aiwwenglish.tumblr.com/ (December 9, 2010)
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12
“Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.”
Ai Weiwei, " interview for Unilever Series at the Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/ai-weiwei-conversation," at tate.org.uk, October 12, 2010.
2010-, 2010
" Living in Fear Is Worse Than Imprisonment http://mg.co.za/article/2012-06-28-living-in-fear-is-worse-than-imprisonment." Mail and Guardian, June 29, 2012.
2010-, 2012
“I’m not sure I’m good at art, but I find an escape in it.”
Barboza, David, and Lynn Zhang. “ The Clown Scholar: Ai Weiwei http://www.artzinechina.com/display.php?a=180..” ArtzineChina, 2008.
2000-09, 2008
2010-, The City: Beijing, 2011
2010-, You’re There but You’re Not Existing, 2012
Karen Smith et al. Ai Weiwei (Contemporary Artists (Phaidon), London: Phaidon Press, 2009.
2000-09, 2009
2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011
“China has not established the rule of law and thus there is no justice.”
2010-, Living in Fear Is Worse Than Imprisonment, 2012
2000-09, Ai Weiwei: A Rebel of Poet Roots, 2008
Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (12:39 p.m. August 6, 2009)
2000-09, Twitter feeds, 2009
2010-, China’s ‘Mozart’ Drops Off State Hit Parade, 2010
“One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.”
Ai Weiwei on Twitter in English (beta). (December 24, 2010) http://aiwwenglish.tumblr.com/
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12
