It is no secret we have a sense of humor, particularly in how we formulate our headlines. Many artists have a sense of humor too, and some are serious about it. One is Ai Weiwei, Chinese contemporary artist. Mr Weiwei was reported an easy going partier and prankster in his NY days between 1981 and 1993. In that period, he was influenced by the experimental NY art scene, AIDS activism, and watched the events of 1989 unfold at home from afar.
Returning to China after, he collaborated in producing and presenting controversial experimental art in Beijing. He continued his father's interest in Chinese antiques, supporting himself as an antique dealer. Repurposing antiques in the service of conceptual art was a theme of his early work. Dropping a Han-Dynasty Urn in 1995 is a record of Weiwei dropping a 2200 year old antique vase which shatters on the ground. It is a simple yet richly barbed commentary on history and culture, especially as Chinese dominant ethnic group takes its name from that dynasty. The beauty of the work is that the urn might cost less than $5000 to purchase, while photographs of the work, in an edition of 8, are currently valued at over $150,000 each.
Mr Weiwei was in the right place at the right time to ride the Chinese art boom in China, as well as internationally. He used that platform more wisely than many superstar contemporary artists, to take on from within, flaws in a culture and a country.
If you are familiar with contemporary Chinese culture, it is by no means monolithic. But young and educated Chinese play the edge of rebellion, or at least question state controls, as an element of their identity, or as pure human response. It's common to present that publicly and certainly privately using the long established custom of euphemism in the Chinese language. So "jumping the wall" is commonly found in Weibao posts, meaning the writer is presenting information found by evading the Chinese Great Firewall, which blocks Internet content deemed controversial to the government. Today Mr Weiwei does not exist in Chinese search engines.
Individuals standing out is also a potentially dangerous transgression in Chinese culture. And the large security bureaucracy is bound to move inexactly in its sworn mission to minimize disruptions, especially in the years around the leadership transition. That would be now.
In the past, artists' and art school professors' commentary on society was ignored. Their audience was educated and small. They did not operate in the press and they were not visible internationally. Ai Weiwei broke the mold. His work was political, but only in a way that art insiders could understand. But he became very well known and wealthy as a result of museum shows in the West. The press followed, and Mr Weiwei was swept up in the cultural security apparatus. This, in turn, inflamed the Western press and the art world. An artist being mentioned by name by Secretary Clinton is unusual, to say the least. Not only can water float a boat, it can sink it also. The fact that Ai Weiwei's Western supporters are influential is a danger. And the fact that Mr Weiwei's revolution has been televised by his blog and Twitter is a new postmodern condition.
The film explores a series of projects Mr Weiwei has made around the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, in which an estimated 70,000 Chinese died. The artist focused on gathering and publicizing the names of more than 5,000 school children who were killed. Each was an only child. It is the heaviest burden for their families, and something that can not be fully understood in the West. The numbers and names of the individuals lost has never been released by the central government. China's building boom has resulted in much shoddy construction, dubbed tofu dregs construction, including schools destroyed by the earthquake. Although the event did open the society to public compassion and relief efforts unseen previous, the door of responsibility and transparency has not been similarly moved.
The social practice art project has resulted in an ongoing battle by the artist with the provincial government, who built the schools, and their building contractor patrons. It may be the artist's most dangerous project. The film covers the work and its subsequent exhibition in Munich, So Sorry.
Mr Weiwei has a piece from the project in the current Art HK show, soon to be Art Basel-Hong Kong. The work consists of 123 framed letters received from government agencies by Mr Weiwei in his request for information about the collapse of school buildings in the earthquake. On the back of the wall on which they are hung, are the names the artist and his collaborators have gathered, of 5,196 students who perished.
Mr Weiwei is unique in having a very large body of followers, supporters and volunteers surrounding his art projects in China. The war between Mr Weiwei and the state has escalated with Mr Weiwei's Shanghai studio workshop being bulldozed and the artist imprisoned for almost 3 months in 2011, both covered toward the end of the film. Though not its intent, the film represents the next escalation.
If you have been following the journey of Mr Weiwei, or are curious, you have a special opportunity this evening. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is a new documentary about the artist, his work, and his influence in the art world. It shows tonight at the Portland Art Museum. The director, Alison Klayman, spent several years with Mr Weiwei filming, and provides an intimate portrait of the man. The production values and editing are top notch. The film returns August 3 to the Living Room Theaters. You can obtain a free ticket at this web link. At the Whitsell Auditorium of the Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park. 7PM Free
