The 53-year old Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei is currently being detained and charged with economic crimes by the Chinese government. Though the Chinese government repeatedly claim that his persecution is not because of freedom of speech—though Ai's family believe that he is being held as an "attempt to stifle activism amid under government crackdown on dissidents." Especially since friends of his like Wen Tao are being detained also....
Read more …The 53-year old Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei is currently being detained and charged with economic crimes by the Chinese government. Though the Chinese government repeatedly claim that his persecution is not because of freedom of speech—though Ai's family believe that he is being held as an "attempt to stifle activism amid under government crackdown on dissidents." Especially since friends of his like Wen Tao are being detained also.
Ai Weiwei is most famous for his work at the Tate Modern called the Sunflower Seeds, 100 million porcelain seeds handcrafted by artisans from a Chinese town, Jingdehezen. The work is a statement regarding mass production especially with most items being "Made in China," and the general state of the geopolitics of cultural economic exchange.
