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Besieged Chinese Artist’s Photos of New York Show
Origins of the Artist/Activist
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei continues to be harassed, attacked, and imprisoned by the Chinese government. Even though Ai has been silenced by the Chinese, his art and photos speak for him. A collection of his photographs taken in the 1980’s in New York’s Lower East Village were put on display at the Asia Society Museum in New York City.
“Ai Weiwei is one of the most provocative and influential conceptual artists from China today, and in recent years he has become an increasingly iconic figure,” says Asia Society Museum Director Melissa Chiu. Although plans for the exhibit were made months ago, the opening of the exhibit was one week after the Chinese released Ai after three months of detention which had prompted international indignation.
Ai Weiwei is considered one of China’s most admired artists and is shown here at his recent exhibition at the Tate Museum in London. Reuters
New York in the 1980’s
The East Village went through a tumultuous time in the 1980’s as the longtime residents were being pushed out as the area became gentrified. At the same time, the Village attracted leading American writers and commentators, as well as Asian expatriates fleeing the restrictive culture of Communist China.
Ai was young and lived in a tiny apartment. His photos capture his unique perspective on American political discourse, public demonstrations, police response, as well as the American political process. His experiences helped develop the views and philosophies of the internationally known artist/activist he would become.
The design of Beijing “Bird’s Nest” 2008 Olympic Stadium is one of Ai’s signature works. Later he criticized Beijing saying the Olympics were being used to further enslave its people. Above, thousands of Chinese practice Taiji at the stadium. Newscom
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The Asia Society was founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III to promote greater knowledge of Asia in the U.S.
Target of Chinese Government Action
Ai is among a number of artists, writers, and journalists who have been targeted by the Chinese government in 2011. It is hard to determine if there is a particular reason for this campaign since China is known for its human rights violations.
One possible reason is that the Chinese leaders are fearful of a “Chinese Spring” that would mimic the demonstrations and even overthrow of governments as witnessed this year in the Arab world sometimes called the “Arab Spring.”
2011 has been a particularly bad year as the Chinese government bulldozed a newly completed million dollar art center and studio that Ai had built. Ai had been detained at Chinese airports on several occasions.
Then he was arrested in April and held incommunicado by the authorities for three months. Ai appears to be held in some form of house arrest. He was released on condition of not speaking with the press or communicating via the Internet for one year.
Photo Exhibit
The Asia Society Museum presents an exhibition of 227 enlarged black and white photographs taken by Ai Weiwei out of his archive of 10,000 photographs. A
316-page catalog has been published and is available at AsiaStore at the Society’s website, asiasociety.org. The exhibit runs until August 15th.
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