Chinese artist and political dissident Ai Weiwei dropped a bomb on his Instagram followers Wednesday morning: he got his passport back.
This news is huge to anyone who follows Ai’s career. In spite of his meteoric rise in popularity across the planet, Ai has been unable to attend his own shows abroad. The reason? His passport was confiscated in 2011 following his arrest by the Chinese government for tax evasion. The real reason? Ai is a vocal critic of China’s position on human rights and free speech. This, of course, upset some soulless bureaucrats and they decided to intimidate him, detain him for 81 days and fine him $2.4 million. We’re skeptical of the tax evasion charge, given that Ai was scooped up amid a country-wide crackdown on political activists. The government followed up on the arrest by doing thuggish things like keeping Ai’s studio under 24/7 surveillance and placing cameras in his compound. Associated Press photographer Ng Han Guan snapped a great photograph of some cops looking macho while trying to intimidate a guy who makes art and ceramics for a living.
From Artnet:
“Ai Weiwei and his many supporters around the world are thrilled at the news that his passport has been returned after 600 days,” Ossian Ward from Lisson Gallery, which represents Ai Weiwei, told artnet News in an email. “Having been denied foreign travel since his 81-day detention in 2011, Weiwei now has the possibility to visit his son and his studio in Berlin as well as some of his many forthcoming museum exhibitions around the world, including major shows this autumn in London, Paris, Helsinki and Melbourne. However, he intends to remain based in Beijing, his home,” Ward added.
What does this mean? China, while moving at the glacial speed of government, could be trying to improve its public image by realizing how counter-productive their campaign against Ai appears to the rest of the planet. Ai will finally get to be present at his exhibitions abroad (with bragging rights to boot). He’ll be able to speak about his art and about the motivations that drive him. Maybe the staff at CFile will get the chance to shake the guy’s hand. We have been active supporters of this artist since our site began broadcasting which earned us the honor of being blocked by the master of the web in China. Perhaps now we can be allowed in.
The poetic thing about this story, though, is the lesson it teaches. The government tried to silence Ai and they lost. They flinched. They look like fools. Hopefully Ai Weiwei’s story will inspire other thinkers who find themselves in similar situations.
Congratulations, Ai!
Bill Rodgers is a Contributing Editor at CFile.
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It’s certainly popular news here in China as well, a terrible realization that one’s freedom in the current age is tied to their passport. In 2011, here in China. I heard a few times others thought he worked for the CIA. I scoffed that the silly concept at the time. However several months ago I read Julian Assange’s lengthy piece on the tightly woven relationship between Google and the U.S. State department, it really caused me to reconsider the essence of the idea. The piece details much about privatized efforts to implant seeds of democracy within the cultural fabric of other countries like China. Not only have such agencies been instrumental in trying to fabricate social jasmine revolutions, but the US government and google people have gone far in funding grants to He and other artists in the area, also he has received enormous grants from the Netherlands and Germany. The Hoipolloi eat up the drama and the story of a stalwart crusader, but the story is much more complicated. Ai took the bait of a massive political machine bent on being subversive and divisive, in the eyes of Beijing I am sure it’s equivalent to treason and espionage, just as it would have been to receive communist funding in the USA not so long ago. However Beijing was smart, not to likewise take the bait, they chose not to accuse him of such activities, rather choosing more ambiguous accusation of tax evasion. Ai is a sacrificial Lamb for the power elite poking into foreign affairs. We often protest these interventions after they become violent, but they start with small neo-colonial insidious subterfuge tactics into unwelcoming political systems. His release is a testament to the power Art world support and political social media programs like IChange and google ideas. The best thing to say about Ai is that he has embraced his plight with confidence accepting the role fully, It is unclear if he loves the chance drama and narrative provides or the fight itself, I assume a mixture of both. For him to leave China, to live in some easy life, would to be to abandon his artistic shtick, and that is not going to happen.
The recent Alcatraz exhibition is a clear use of federal property to further continue the use of art as a cold war type tactic, he wasn’t sitting in Beijing saying thinking he should apply for a show at our most historical prison. This was handed to him, funding by people fully aware of its political implications. The art world probably should focus deeper consideration of the contributions of his art to the development of Chinese contemporary art, rather than the spectacle. His work increasingly fits within a vernacular prized by capitalist elite. Sensationalism aside. There are other artist like Xu Bing who have made much more significant artistic developments to art in China, and also play a more constructive role in reform.
I don’t think Ai has noticed CFile’s support nor ultimately cares, Ai’s mateial connection to ceramics is paper thin, In china porcelain is culture and cultural value. not a unique material. Cfile is a great resource in China for ceramic artists and I often share it to them. Perhaps at some time you were blocked. But now you are not!
http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447
This is a really informative essay on the environment from which Ai gained Support and some of its complications.
https://sweetandsoursocialism.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/detained-ai-weiwei-con-artist-by-yoichi-shimatzu-the-4th-media/
Dear Ryan, Ai did not block us the Chinese government did. Ai does know about CFile. I am writing a book about Ai’s ceramic work which by the way is extensive and NOT paper-thin. I worked on a project of his with the Navajo Nation and CFile was the media consultant. I like a cynical edge but prefer it to be informed.
It would be interesting to compare the treatment of Paul Robeson by his country, the United States and this artist…the defenders of human rights are often quite reluctant to examine their own governments and all to ready to call the other foul and enlist the “world” to support their projections. Yes, it would be interesting…
I can’t speak for others, but I know that in my own writing I apply my principles evenly when I have the opportunity. The piece I wrote on Julie Green’s death row plates is directed at capital punishment in the United States. In the piece on the ceramic poppies at the tower of London, I wrote about the WW1 memorial from the standpoint that it represented human beings, not abstractions of nationalism as is so often the case in such memorials. I feel like a lot of the art that speaks to me in this way attempts to divorce itself from exceptionalism. That choice is confrontational and it’s a place where change can happen (at the very least in the mind of the viewer). I try to emulate that attitude in my own work.
But I agree with you. Exceptionalism is a trap that should be avoided. I also have to admit that it’s safe for people like myself to criticize Ai’s government. Doing so comes with no risk because I’m not writing this from within China.
However, I’m not going to neglect good news due to the lack of perfection. I believe that this development in Ai’s career is auspicious, if for no other reason than it signals that an artist who I admire is slightly safer than he was a few years ago. No one should have to endure what Ai did. Art shouldn’t be subjected to the petty whims of the political elite. Those, I feel, are universal sentiments, applicable anywhere on Earth. For these reasons, I feel like this news is worthy of celebration.
Thank you for commenting. It gave me the opportunity to reflect.
– Bill