Zodiac Heads

Greg Hilty: The Art World Has Always Existed to Respond to Uneasiness

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:29:22 -0500

Greg Hilty: The Art World Has Always Existed to Respond to Uneasiness:

“New York 1965…London 1967…Beijing 2011. A lot has changed in the art world and the wider world. But ‘uneasiness’ and the need to respond to it evidently persist. The art that came out of the Conceptual revolution offers the world not merely a reflection, but a distillation of what it means to be human at any given time.”

"I cannot do any interviews anymore, I’m very sorry, but my situation isn’t very good."

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:02:06 -0500

“I cannot do any interviews anymore, I’m very sorry, but my situation isn’t very good.”

- -Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei’s wife urges China to scrap detention plans @ Wed Sep 28 2011

(via PopTech : Blog : Interview: Alison Klayman on...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:06:06 -0500

(via PopTech : Blog : Interview: Alison Klayman on getting to know Ai Weiwei)

Ai Weiwei’s “Forever Bicycles” exhibition in...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:10:05 -0500

Ai Weiwei’s “Forever Bicycles” exhibition in Taipei

(via China’s Ai Weiwei gets absent exhibition in Taiwan | Reuters)

"Perhaps for Chinese viewers Taiwan is the only place to see an Ai Weiwei exhibition"

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:05:05 -0500

“Perhaps for Chinese viewers Taiwan is the only place to see an Ai Weiwei exhibition”

- China’s Ai Weiwei gets absent exhibition in Taiwan | Reuters

"So I was thinking how am I going to do this? I could see I wanted to say what he said, that somehow..."

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:06:05 -0500

“

So I was thinking how am I going to do this? I could see I wanted to say what he said, that somehow his words are speaking through us. First of all, I’d like to show you a picture. [Opens her jacket to reveal a t-shirt with a missing poster for Ai Weiwei, stamped “found” at the bottom.] A few days ago I went to visit in a studio of Julian Schnabel and I said to him that I am going to accept this award and he said to me I have this t-shirt — the same t-shirt that I am wearing tonight — and he told me this story of how he made this. He was in Venice and walking the streets and he saw some pieces of the poster of Ai Weiwei just lying on the floor. He took them and made his t-shirt and this was even before he was in prison and was missing. Now let’s see what Ai Weiwei is saying.

Susan Sontag said, and I think it’s really important to start with her because she’s such a free thinker, and she said, “The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known.” There are no writings or speaking that will not be truths about anything. And that’s what Ai Weiwei knew so well. That’s why the goal is so important to him. He said, “The goal provided me with the all the right tools and the space to take full advantage of my expressive potential.” He said, “Say what you need to say and then take responsibility for it, or speak when you get the chance. Don’t waste your limited space saying something meaningless.” Then he said, “I think that every person must do something for others. This is the only way this world will see any change. I think restrictions are essential conditions in the fight from freedom for expression.”

I really relate to him so much because, you know, coming from ex-Yugoslavia, in our country, we had to ask three years in advance to the government to make spontaneous demonstrations. I mean, three years in advance for spontaneous demonstrations. You know, it was for the political job — you can go up to four years in prison. If two people are talking on the street, this is a dialogue. If three people are on the street, this is a protest. So, he said, which is an interesting distinction to make here, he said, “There’s so many things that are wrong with our society no matter if you are a musician or an artist or writer. I believe there’s no such thing as the best circumstances and therefore I say that we all have our complaints but this cannot become your excuse. The desert grows its own kind of grass and tropical plants only grow in the rainforest. So discussing our circumstances and complaining about them is pointless. Any environment is still your environment and everyone is his own or her own unique situation, people who cannot adapt to different circumstances should be left on their own devices.”

“What I’m saying is,” he said, “if one metal proves useless, create another. If you are not equipped with the practility, you are a loser and you deserve your fate. People who believe they are standing in the worst of places truly have a problem because, actually, everyone is standing on equal ground.” So to the government, the Chinese, he said, “Reject cynicism, reject corporation, reject fear, and reject tea drinking. There is nothing to discuss. It’s the same old same. Don’t come looking for me again. I will not cooperate. If you must come, bring your instruments of torture with you.”

So Ai Weiwei is the model of an artist, he’s the artist of the future, using technology to invent a different innovating way of communication in a time of restrictions and limitations. This is why I’d like to conclude with his own words: “I spent most of my effort liberating myself from being an artist to become a real human being.”

”

- Read Marina Abramovic’s Speech Calling Ai Weiwei “the Artist of the Future” | In the Air: Art Auction’s Gossip Column | ARTINFO.com

Ai Weiwei wins in art category for WSJ’s first...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:01:06 -0500

Ai Weiwei wins in art category for WSJ’s first “Innovator of the Year” award.

BBC News - Ai Weiwei 'does not feel powerful'

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:05:05 -0500

BBC News - Ai Weiwei 'does not feel powerful':

Audio recording of Ai Weiwei.

Art Direction by Ai Weiwei Photographed by Max Vadukul for W...

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:18:14 -0500

Art Direction by Ai Weiwei

Photographed by Max Vadukul for W Magazine

(via Chinese artist Ai Weiwei collaborates with W magazine: Art & Design: Wmagazine.com)

Supporters of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei have contributed nearly...

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:26:35 -0500

Supporters of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei have contributed nearly 1.8 million yuan ($285,000) towards a huge tax fine imposed after he was released from detention this year, a friend said on Saturday. Ai was this week ordered to pay 15 million yuan ($2.3 million) in back taxes by mid-November, prompting supporters to issue an appeal to help him out. (via Supporters give money for Ai Weiwei’s tax fine - FRANCE 24)

A woman logs onto a computer information from bundles of...

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:24:00 -0500

A woman logs onto a computer information from bundles of remittance receipts sent to the home of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei in Beijing, China, Monday, Nov. 7, 2011. Thousands of people have sent more than 5.3 million yuan ($840,000) to Ai, some tossing cash folded into airplanes over his gate, he said Monday, to help him pay a tax bill they see as government harassment. The Beijing tax bureau was demanding that he pay 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in back taxes and fines.

(via Photo from AP Photo)

Tax Trouble: China Orders Artist Ai Weiwei to Pay $2.4...

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Tax Trouble: China Orders Artist Ai Weiwei to Pay $2.4 Million

(via TIME.com)

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wins fans in Los Angeles | Reuters

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:36:13 -0400

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wins fans in Los Angeles | Reuters:

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is living a heavily restricted life in Beijing after being released from detention earlier this year, but his work is speaking volumes to people in the second-largest U.S. city.

Photo

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:28:21 -0400

Ai Weiwei on Beijing's Nightmare City - The Daily Beast

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:56:51 -0400

Ai Weiwei on Beijing's Nightmare City - The Daily Beast:

Ai Weiwei finds China’s capital is a prison where people go mad.

(via Ai Weiwei talks about art, his health and life out of...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:43:41 -0400

(via Ai Weiwei talks about art, his health and life out of prison - latimes.com)

Ai Weiwei’s writings published offline. (via Ai Weiwei’s...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:32:42 -0400

Ai Weiwei’s writings published offline.

(via Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009 by Ai Weiwei: review - Telegraph)

Video

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:30:31 -0400

Ai Weiwei, self-proclaimed “suspected pornography...

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:34:56 -0400

Ai Weiwei, self-proclaimed “suspected pornography enthusiast and tax evader” returns to Twitter…

(via Ai Weiwei back in communication on Twitter - Telegraph)

shootinggallery: Ai Weiwei talks about the time he spent as a...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:05:06 -0400

shootinggallery:

Ai Weiwei talks about the time he spent as a young man living in New York and the 10,000 photographs he took documenting his life and the city. (2010, For Tate shots)