Ai Weiwei

This collection of quotes demonstrates the elegant simplicity of Ai Weiwei's thoughts on key aspects of his art, politics, and life. A master at communicating powerful ideas in astonishingly few words, Ai Weiwei is known for his innovative use of social media to disseminate his views. The short quotations presented here have been carefully selected from articles, tweets, and interviews given by this acclaimed Chinese artist and activist. The book is organized into six categories: freedom of expression; art and activism; government, power, and moral choices; the digital world; history, the historical moment, and the future; and personal reflections. Together, these quotes span some of the most revealing moments of Ai Weiwei's eventful career--from his risky investigation into student deaths in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to his arbitrary arrest in 2011--providing a window into the mind of one of the world's most electrifying and courageous contemporary artists.

"These photos were taken between 1983 and 1994 during the decade I spent living in New York before returning to Beijing. At that time, I didn't really have anything to do. I was just hanging out, whiling away my time everyday by taking pictures of the people I met, places I went, my friends, my neighborhood, the street and the city. In a flash twenty years have passed, and the New York I knew no longer exists. The appearance of the East Village has totally changed, and many of the people in my photographs are no longer in this world. I took these photos casually, and most of my subjects probably don't even realize that they are in them. Today, looking back on the past, I can see that these photographs are facts, but not necessarily true. After all, any reality is just a factor of change - an unconfirmed moment in the slow march of time. The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today."--Ai Weiwei.

HAM ? Helsinki Art Museum?s ? exhibition Ai Weiwei @ Helsinki exhibited key works spanning from the 1980s to the present day by one of the world?s most influential contemporary artists, Chinese Ai Weiwei. The overriding focus of the sculptures and installations in the exhibition is wood as material, of which are accompanied by photographs and videos. The exhibition consists of 27 works in total, two of which are new: White House and Garbage Container.00Exhibition: HAM ? Helsinki Art Museum, Finland (25.9.2015 - 28.02.2016).

Examines the current refugee crisis around the world.

Drawing on two decades of experience as a war correspondent and based on his numerous columns for Truthdig, Chris Hedges presents The World As It Is, a panorama of the American empire at home and abroad, from the coarsening effect of America's War on Terror to the front lines in the Middle East and South Asia and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Underlying his reportage is a constant struggle with the nature of war and its impact on human civilization. "War is always about betrayal," Hedges notes. "It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked."

Writings on human life and the refugee crisis by the most important political artist of our timeAi Weiwei (b. 1957) is widely known as an artist across media: sculpture, installation, photography, performance, and architecture. He is also one of the world's most important artist-activists and a powerful documentary filmmaker. His work and art call attention to attacks on democracy and free speech, abuses of human rights, and human displacement--often on an epic, international scale.This collection of quotations demonstrates the range of Ai Weiwei's thinking on humanity and mass migration, issues that have occupied him for decades. Selected from articles, interviews, and conversations, Ai Weiwei's words speak to the profound urgency of the global refugee crisis, the resilience and vulnerability of the human condition, and the role of art in providing a voice for the voiceless.Select quotations from the book:"This problem has such a long history, a human history. We are all refugees somehow, somewhere, and at some moment." "Allowing borders to determine your thinking is incompatible with the modern era." "Art is about aesthetics, about morals, about our beliefs in humanity. Without that there is simply no art." "I don't care what all people think. My work belongs to the people who have no voice."

"Over the last two decades, geopolitical borders have shifted and new technologies have forged channels of communication around the world. Printed materials, in both innovative and traditional forms, have played a key role in this exchange of ideas and sources. This exhibition examines the evolution of artistic practices related to the print medium, from the resurgence of traditional printmaking techniques--often used alongside digital technologies--to the proliferation of self-published artists' projects. Bringing together some 70 series or projects drawn substantially from MoMA's extensive collection of prints and books, with the addition of several important loans, the exhibition features major artists and publishing projects, such as Ai Weiwei, Trisha Donnelly, Martin Kippenberger, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Lucy McKenzie, Aleksandra Mir, Museum in Progress, Edition Jacob Samuel, Thomas Schütte, SUPERFLEX, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Christopher Wool, among many others. Print/Out is the third in a series of large print surveys periodically organized by the Museum's Department of Prints and Illustrated Books in order to assess the evolution of the medium. The last two exhibitions were Printed Art: A View of Two Decades, organized by Riva Castleman in 1980, and Thinking Print: Books to Billboards: 1980-1995, curated by Deborah Wye in 1996"--Publisher's website.

"Ai Weiwei is a conceptual artist, highly critical of society and dedicated to the creation of and friction between realities. As an architect, sculptor, photographer, blogger, twitterer, interview artist and political activist, Weiwei acts as a seismograph for current social problems, and blends the boundaries between art and life. Interlacing presents the complexity of Weiwei's oeuvre through blogs, critical essays and hundreds of photographs. Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 and studied at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1978 he co-founded the artist collective The Stars and in 1981 studied under Sean Scully at Parsons School of Design in New York. In 1997 Weiwei co-founded China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), and in 1999 he opened his studio in Caochangdi. An artist of international acclaim with a particular interest in architecture, Weiwei was instrumental in the design of Beijing's famous 'bird's nest' Olympic stadium."--Publisher's description.

"In his widely anticipated memoir, Ai Weiwei-one of the world's most famous artists and activists-tells a century-long epic tale of China through the story of his own extraordinary life and the legacy of his father, Ai Qing, the nation's most celebrated poet. Hailed as "the most important artist working today" by the Financial Times and as "an eloquent and unsilenceable voice of freedom" by The New York Times, Ai Weiwei has written a sweeping memoir that presents a remarkable history of China over the last 100 years while illuminating his artistic process. Once an intimate of Mao Zedong, Ai Weiwei's father was branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, and he and his family were banished to a desolate place known as "Little Siberia," where Ai Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg and was inspired by Andy Warhol. With candor and wit, he details his return to China and his rise from artistic unknown to art world superstar and international human rights activist-and how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime. Ai Weiwei's sculptures and installations have been viewed by millions around the globe, and his architectural achievements include helping to design the iconic Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing. His political activism has long made him a target of the Chinese authorities, which culminated in months of secret detention without charge in 2011. Here, for the first time, Ai Weiwei explores the origins of his exceptional creativity and passionate political beliefs through his own life story and that of his father, whose own creativity was stifled. At once ambitious and intimate, 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows offers a deep understanding of the myriad forces that have shaped modern China, and serves as a timely reminder of the urgent need to protect freedom of expression"--

"Working from his studio in China, internationally acclaimed artist and activist Ai Weiwei has created a major series of site-specific installations for Alcatraz Island. In this essential catalog, beautiful photographs of the large-scale artworks provide an comprehensive look at this important project, while thought-provoking texts and archival vintage images proffer cultural and historical context"--

Art and the City' is published on the occasion of the international festival of the same name held in Zurich in summer 2012. Inviting more than 40 artists to present works in the public space, the manifestation takes as a point of departure the transformation of the west area of Zurich from an industrial zone to a trendy residential neighborhood. Gathering together contributions by artists such as Doug Aitken, Ai Weiwei, Lara Almarcegui, Los Carpinteros, Valentin Carron, Martin Creed, Roe Ethridge, Matias Faldbakken, Yona Friedman, Hamish Fulton, Christian Jankowski, San Keller, Paul McCarthy, Matt Mullican, Taiyo Onorato/Nico Krebs, Manfred Pernice, Charlotte Posenenske, Bettina Pousttchi, Fred Sandback, Frank Stella, and Oscar Tuazon, the book explores the condition of cities in the 21st century through the history of art interventions and discussions in the public realm.

A leading figure among the Chinese artists of his generation, Ai Weiwei creates art that transcends East/West cultural dualities and focuses on fundamental artistic, cultural, and social questions. Published in conjunction with the first North American survey of this celebrated and provocative artist's career, this volume offers a valuable introduction to the full spectrum of Ai Weiwei's work--from photographs and sculpture to documentation of several of his most well-known projects, including his collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron on the "bird's nest" stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. More recent works, several made specifically for this tour, address his ongoing investigation of the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, as well as his responses to his detention and continual surveillance by Chinese authorities. The book contains essays by exhibition curator Mami Kataoka, art historian Charles Merewether, and an interview between the Hirshhorn's chief curator Kerry Brougher and the artist.