The Chinese artist is one of the most celebrated contemporary artists in the East and West, a global citizen who calls for political investigation within his wide practice. Ai Weiwei investigates and questions institutions and regimes at the core of his work, he measures our existence in relation to economic, political, and social forces, while his practice is rooted in Chinese tradition he executes within a contemporary and conceptual creativity.

His provocative blend of Chinese tradition and craftsmanship within fully contemporary practice serves his strong criticism of human rights violations and condemnations of governmental corruption. His own life since childhood has been marked by his struggles and fights against the Chinese Government. His father, a renewed poet, was declared “class enemy” and sent to labor camp with his family. Migrating to New York was his opportunity to expand his artistic vocabularies where he stayed for over a decade. During this time, he became influenced by the works of Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Hasper Johns.
He was secretly detained without any official charges being filed for 81 days from April 3 to June 22, 2011 by the Chinese government, and his passport was held for 4 years afterward. Since being allowed to leave China in 2015 he has produced monumental installations and artworks that advocate for refugee rights and make awareness on the global crisis of displacement.

Ai Weiwei

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei is famous for conceptual artworks that challenge authority and explore the links between the contemporary world and traditional Chinese culture.

<p>At the core of his production, Ai Weiwei investigates and questions institutions and regimes by measuring human existence in relation to economic, political, and social forces. The middle finger has been a recurrent theme in his artistic oeuvre. His photographic series Study of Perspective (shot from 1995 to 2003) shows the artist flipping the middle finger in front of iconic landmarks across the globe. The gesture represents a universal and concise statement of political opposition and the rejection of any form of oppression against human freedom. This iconic gesture has been translated into an equally iconic Murano glass sculpture, and the result is a powerful yet elegant object. The sculpture, made from the artist's own hand cast, embodies the deep and engaged message of Study of Perspective while meeting the glass' airy and light qualities, consequently producing a rare effect of beauty and mystic power.</p>

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“ There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship. „

—Ai Weiwei