Here Is a Video of Ai Weiwei Doing a Parody of ‘Gangnam Style’
Presented without comment.
Presented without comment.
Among the four artists who will represent Germany at the next Venice Biennale is Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Indian artist Dayanita Singh, South African artist Santu Mofokeng and French-German artist Romuald Karmakar round out the international team, as announced today by Frankfurt am Main’s Museum für Moderne Kunst. Susanne Gaensheimer, the director of the museum and the curator of the German pavilion, said in the statement that each of the four artists has ties to the art scene in Germany and had worked there for many years. Read More
On the cusp of the release of the documentary about his life and work, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, the artist and activist Ai Weiwei published a diatribe in The Guardian against the Olympic games. Mr. Ai, who still cannot travel outside the country, explains why he withdrew from participating in the opening ceremony at the Beijing 2008 Olympics (“I only withdrew from participating in fake performances laden with propaganda”), which he says have become commercialized and have strayed from the humanistic motives that initially drove the ancient competition. Read More
On the heels of the disappointing—albeit unsurprising—denial of artist and activist Ai Weiwei’s appeal against Beijing tax authorities, there arrives the comparably happy news that his monumental installation, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, will be unveiled at Princeton University on Aug. 1, where it will have a year-long run. The exhibition is sponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, which has invited Mr. Ai to the school to participate in a series of events on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Read More
Producers of the film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, which documents the life and plight of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, have launched a campaign across social-networking platforms with the hashtag #RaiseYourFinger to create buzz in anticipation of the film’s release—it opens in New York on July 27. The producers are inviting fans of Mr. Ai to submit photographs of themselves raising their middle-finger “to symbols of injustice.” Read More
Tonight, Art in the 21st Century, the Peabody Award-winning television series which profiles 13 artists in four hour-long episodes, premieres on PBS at 9:00 p.m. EST. This season, the show—grouped into the episodes “Change,” “Balance,” “History” and “Boundaries”—will feature performance artist Marina Abramovic, art collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus, known for its carnivalesque installations (like the one it created for a 2008 exhibition at Deitch Projects), abstract artist Lynda Benglis, whose brightly-colored sculptures in poured latex and foam were exhibited at the New Museum last year, outspoken artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei and Sarah Sze who will represent the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Read More
The International Association of Art Critics’ United States chapter announced yesterday the 24 winners of its 2011 awards. The New York Times first reported the news. Voted on by the 400 members of the organization, the citations are made for first and second place in 12 different categories, with three categories specially addressing New York, which were decided as follows: Read More
The award-winning documentary on international artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, directed by Alison Klayman, is scheduled to be released this summer by Sundance Selects, which made an announcement via Twitter yesterday. Read More
Architects Herzog & de Meuron, along with artist Ai Weiwei, will design the Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington in 2012. The group collaborated back in 2008 to build the so-called “Bird’s Nest” stadium in Beijing for the Olympic games held there. Read More
Last week, for the first time ever, a single show opened in all 11 of Larry Gagosian’s galleries, from New York to Geneva to Hong Kong, simultaneously. The show comprises more than 300 of Damien Hirst’s Spot paintings, the world’s most expensive wall paper. Read More
