In 2006, even though he could barely type, China's
most famous artist started blogging. For more than three
years, Ai Weiwei turned out a steady stream of scathing
social commentary, criticism of government policy,
thoughts on art and architecture, and autobiographical
writings. He wrote about the Sichuan earthquake (and
posted a list of the schoolchildren who died because of
the government's ''tofu-dregs engineering''), reminisced
about Andy Warhol and the East Village art scene,
described the irony of being investigated for ''fraud''
by the Ministry of Public Security, made a modest
proposal for tax collection. Then, on June 1, 2009,
Chinese authorities shut down the blog. This book offers
a collection of Ai's notorious online writings
translated into English--the most complete, public
documentation of the original Chinese blog available in
any language.The New York Times called Ai ''a figure of
Warholian celebrity.'' He is a leading figure on the
international art scene, a regular in museums and
biennials, but in China he is a manifold and
controversial presence: artist, architect, curator,
social critic, justice-seeker.He was a consultant on the
design of the famous ''Bird's Nest'' stadium but called
for an Olympic boycott; he received a Chinese
Contemporary Art ''lifetime achievement award'' in 2008
but was beaten by the police in connection with his
''citizen investigation'' of earthquake casualties in
2009. Ai Weiwei's Blog documents Ai's passion, his
genius, his hubris, his righteous anger, and his vision
for China. |
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