Showing posts with label Ai Weiwei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ai Weiwei. Show all posts

Sunday, December 23, 2012

an ironic "Guardian Christmas screensaver" by Ai Weiwei


Ai Weiwei's ironic homage to Chinese "door god prints" to be used as a screensaver.  Like the "door god prints," that are traditionally hung on doors in China to ward off evil, this "Guardian Christmas screensaver," put on your computer, is supposed to "ward off the evil river crabs" ( "river crabs" is internet slang created by Chinese netizens in reference to Internet censorship or the other censorship of China. In Chinese Mandarin, the word "River crab" (河蟹), which originally means Chinese mitten crab, sounds similar to "Harmonious/Harmonize/Harmonization" (Chinese: 和谐) in the word "Harmonious society" (和谐社会), Chinese leader Hu Jintao's signature ideology).

Also pictured are the "Grass Mud Horses" or Cǎonímǎ (草泥马), is a Chinese Internet meme widely used as a form of symbolic defiance of the widespread Internet censorship in China. It is a play on the Mandarin language words Cǎonímǎ (肏你妈) (I actually can't tell you what that means in English or it sets off the censorship blockers here in Kuwait! but if you click on the links it is easy to see), and is one of the so-called 10 mythical creatures created in a hoax article on Baidu Baike in early 2009 whose names form obscene puns. It has become an Internet chat forum cult phenomenon in China and has garnered world-wide press attention, with videos, cartoons and merchandise of the animal (which is said to resemble the alpaca), having appeared.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Nicholas Kristof and Ai Weiwei on Chen Guangcheng


Below is what another real life hero, Nicholas Kristof, says about Chen Guangcheng:

This man, Chen Guangcheng, is extraordinary -- a blind human rights activist in China who has been brutally mistreated and beaten while under house arrest. Now he has escaped and is said to be hiding in the US Embassy in Beijing. The problem is he's stuck there: the Chinese police can't enter to arrest him, but he can't leave the Embassy grounds for fear of renewed arrest and torture. I hope no one in the US government would ever think of ordering Chen to leave. Don't even think it!


Click on the New York Times article below for more on this story and what Ai Weiwei and others have to say about Chen Guangcheng:
www.nytimes.com
If Chen Guangcheng, a human rights lawyer who fled house arrest on Friday, is in the American Embassy in Beijing, the White House is likely to be cautious in handling his case.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ai Weiwei Ordered to Stop Self-Surveillance


Chinese authorities censor Ai Weiwei's surveillance of himself in his home...but their surveillance continues...

blogs.wsj.com
Chinese authorities put the finishing touch on artist provocateur Ai Weiwei’s latest performance art piece, ordering him to turn off four live webcams he had installed inside his own home in a wry effort to turn state surveillance on its head.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Facebook censors Ai Weiwei nude protest pictures!


www.huffingtonpost.com
I posted Ai Weiwei's images on Facebook. I was sent a warning, so I censored the photos using Facebook logos. Tuesday morning my account was disabled without notice or further details...

Friday, November 18, 2011

"We Need to Ai Weiwei": The Ai Weiwei Question on Chinese Social Media

As with the Wenzhou train collision last year, Chinese netizens are using images to circumvent censorship and show their support of Ai Weiwei.
This one shows Ai being whipped, with different types of punishments. The one the guard is holding says “tax evasion”. Others include stirring up trouble and causing a revolution.

hyperallergic.com
What has the response to Ai Weiwei’s tax case been like in China? Netizens are using images to circumvent censorship and show support.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Ai Weiwei Absent (艾未未‧缺席)

Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles, 2011

www.taipeitimes.com
Ai Weiwei Absent (艾未未‧缺席), the appropriately titled exhibition currently on view at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), is the best show of the Chinese artist’s work you are likely see in Taipei for at least the next few years. Unfortunately, the displayed works reveal little about why he has become...

Monday, November 14, 2011

Ai Weiwei vows to fight amid new challenge from authorities



Ai Weiwei vows to clear tax charges amid fresh challenge from authorities - Guardian - latestChina.com

...Hours before the deadline for paying the 15m yuan (£1.47m) fine, tax officials told the artist and human rights campaigner he could not use his mother's house as collateral and that there were problems with the funds he had raised in a public appeal.

"I only heard this morning about this money problem," Ai told the Guardian on Monday. "They put us in a very difficult situation. They are not following the law. There is nothing I can do"....

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Chinese Citizens send Ai Weiwei over a million RMB in half a day!

The charges against Ai Weiwei are so obvious false, Chinese citizens send him over a million RMB online in half a day in protest against the powers that be...


www.huffingtonpost.com
Not since Spartacus has there been such a widespread act of generosity for an activist and leader. On November 1, the Chinese government declared that dissident artist and activist Ai Weiwei owed $2.4 million dollars in unpaid taxes, and had to pay it back within the next 2 weeks.


shanghaiist.com
On Tuesday, dissident-artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) who was freed not too long ago from an 81-day detention, was slapped with a RMB15 million fine for tax evasion, a princely sum he has been given 15 days to cough up. The very next day, his mother Ai Ying (高瑛) and brother Ai Dan (艾丹) announced that they we...


Friday, November 4, 2011

Chinese netizens help Ai Weiwei pay taxes


Chinese netizens help Ai Weiwei pay taxes
Financial Times 
  • By Kathrin Hille and Jamil Anderlini in Beijing Thousands of Chinese have donated money online to help Ai Weiwei pay a $2.4m tax bill, in a rare fundraising ...
  • Thursday, July 21, 2011

    contemporary Chinese art lecture TONIGHT!

    Shi Xinning - Conemplating Duchamp (2006)
     
    Tonight: Join Melissa Chiu from the Asia Society for a special lecture on contemporary Chinese art. Lubar Auditorium, 6:15 p.m., free with Museum admission, and air conditioned!

    Wednesday, July 20, 2011

    more on Milwaukee's Summer of China from Thirdcoast Digest

    Milwaukee Art Museum's Grinning Chinese Warriors | ThirdCoast Digest
    thirdcoastdigest.com
    Yue Minjun's large-scale work is witty, visceral and political.

    Art, politics, China and Ai Weiwei : A panel discussion at MAM | ThirdCoast Digest
    thirdcoastdigest.com
    As the Milwaukee Art Museum runs a major show of Chinese art, a daring artist collides with a totalitarian state.

    A vast China show at the Milwaukee Art Museum | ThirdCoast Digest
    thirdcoastdigest.com
    A once-in-a-lifetime convergence of Chinese art from the Forbidden City and beyond.

    Sunday, July 17, 2011

    seems like Berlin is the place to be (at least for China's dissident writers and artists)

     
    Ai Weiwei Hoping to Teach in Berlin; Liao Yiwu “Ecstatic” to Be There (Updated) | China Digital Time
    chinadigitaltimes.net

    Ai Weiwei has accepted a position as visiting lecturer at the Berlin University of Arts. The conditions of his release, however, forbid travel outside Beijing for a one-year period, and it is therefore unclear whether or when he will be able to start....

    Thursday, July 14, 2011

    Ai Weiwei's sister gives details of his confinement

     
    www.washingtonpost.com
     
    Dissident artist who was released last month after 81 days in a Beijing jail on tax evasion charges, spent his days of confinement in a tiny room with only a bed for furniture, and two police officers who closely monitored his every gesture.

    Wednesday, July 13, 2011

    Ai Weiwei accepts visiting lecturer position at Berlin's University of the Arts.

    Ai Weiwei Accepts Job Offer At Berlin's University Of The Arts
    www.huffingtonpost.com


    BERLIN — A German university says recently released Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has accepted an offer to join the Berlin institution as a visiting lecturer. Berlin's University of Arts said Wednesday it was unclear when Ai will be able to start in his new position due to his legal troubles in China.

    Thursday, July 7, 2011

    Ai Weiwei, Freed Chinese Artist, Said to Be Back at Work

    "met Ai Weiwei. he has lost weight, not lost courage." Gao Brothers
     
     
    A Swiss gallery owner who represents Ai Weiwei that the artist is creating art again though he cannot meet with journalists to discuss it because of the conditions of his release.

    Wednesday, July 6, 2011

    Panel Discussion: Ai Weiwei: The Collision of Art and Politics

    Tomorrow 6:15pm
    www.mam.org

    Join Melissa Chiu from the Asia Society, New York, Kathryn Kanjo from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Barrett L. McCormick from Marquette University, and Brady Roberts from the Milwaukee Art Museum as they discuss issues surrounding art and politics, including the recent situation with contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
    Lubar Auditorium

    Free with Museum admission