Though Chinese officials are still forbidding Ai Weiwei from leaving the country, the artist nevertheless had an action-packed weekend, taking to YouTube to slam government corruption in a new video that was presented at an event in Basel, Switzerland, where the international art world has gathered for the 43rd edition of the Art Basel fair. Read More
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is having a fine start to his week. Read More
This Wednesday is the 13th annual spring benefit–and 14th anniversary–of White Box, the New York art institution on the Bowery. White Box will be honoring artist Ai Weiwei with the Richard J. Massey Foundation/ White Box Arts and Humanity Award. Ai Weiwei, who has been prohibited from leaving China for a year, will appear live via Skype to accept the award and make a statement. Read More
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is having some trouble proceeding in his lawsuit against Beijing authorities, challenging their allegation that his production company owes some $2.4 million in unpaid taxes. According to Reuters, a Chinese court has asked him to furnish the company’s official seal in order to move forward with the suit, but that seal remains in the hands of the police after being confiscated while the artist was held in custody for 81 days last year. It’s quite a conundrum. Read More
Activist and artist Ai Weiwei has been for the past few days rankling the Chinese government. On Friday, he announced that he had filed a lawsuit against “the No 2 inspection squad of the Beijing tax bureau,” according to The Guardian. The tax bureau has ordered his production company to pay $2 million in unpaid taxes, a move that many observers believe was in response to the artist’s criticism of the Chinese government. The court will rule whether to accept the case within a week. Read More
The Chinese government has ordered Ai Weiwei to turn off the four surveillance cameras that he set up in his home just two days ago, according to the BBC. He installed the cameras to communicate that “transparency will not hurt me,” he told the BBC. He has been under 24-hour police surveillance since he was placed under house arrest after being detained for 81 days one year ago. Read More
Dissident artist and activist Ai Weiwei has received notice that his challenge to a 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) tax bill served against the company that oversees his art making, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., has been denied by government authorities, Reuters reports.
Mr. Ai was arrested last year and held for almost three months in a case that many observers believe is related to his vocal criticism of the Chinese government, and later hit with that tax bill. Read More
Mark your calendars now. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Alison Klayman’s documentary about the Chinese artist and activist, will hit New York theaters on July 27, with a nationwide release arriving in August. The film is being put out by Sundance Selects. Read More
For a brief stretch yesterday, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who has been closely monitored by government authorities since his arrest on accusations of tax fraud last year, thought he had gained a tiny bit more freedom, successfully signing up for an account on a popular Chinese microblogging service called Sina, according to Reuters. Read More
Ai Weiwei has been tweeting all day about the death of Kim Jong-il. The first message was about Wukan, a small village in southeast China that has broken into revolt after Chinese authorities sold land to real estate developers without adequately compensating the villagers:
“Do Wukan people know Kim Jong Il is no more?” Read More
