WEIWEI, AI

* 28.8.1957 Beijing

Ai Weiwei, born on 28 August 1957 in Beijing, has gained international recognition as a Chinese artist and activist with a diverse body of creative work that has attracted worldwide attention. At the same time, the provocative elements of his art and his courageous political outspokenness have led to various forms of repression by the Chinese authorities.

In 1979, Ai Weiwei co-founded the artist group ‘Stars’. This subversive political artists' group was committed to the revitalisation of art in China as a form of individual expression, after decades of art having been subordinated to the political interests of the state.

In 1982, he moved to New York in order to study at the Parsons School for Design where he was taught by Sean Scully. After six months, he abandoned his studies and tried his luck as a street artist and casual labourer.

His first solo exhibition, entitled ‘Old Shoes, Safe Sex’, took place in 1988 in New York at the Art Waves/Ethan Cohen Gallery. He returned to Beijing in 1993 and took the opportunity to produce three books of interviews with his favourite Western artists including Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. In doing so, he created links between the older generation of artists and an emerging generation of iconoclasts in Beijing, to which he himself belonged.

The year 1999 marked a turning point in Ai Weiwei's life and career when he represented China at the Venice Biennale, catapulting his international reputation to unprecedented heights. In the same year, he curated the exhibition ‘F**k off’ in Shanghai, where a group of Chinese artist friends who were also critics of the system in China presented their works.

One of his most famous projects, often referred to as the ‘Bird's Nest’, is his design for the stadium of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, which he created in collaboration with the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. In this structure, Ai Weiwei expressed his hope for ‘justice and fairness’.

In April 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested by the Chinese authorities at Beijing airport. Although his international reputation did not protect him from suffering serious consequences, the global awareness of his situation and growing diplomatic pressure from some countries led to his release and an increased awareness of the abuses in China. He lived in Berlin until 2019 and had exhibitions in cities including Helsinki and Paris. Since 2021, he has been based in the small Portuguese town of Montemor-o-Novo.

On an increasingly global level, Ai Weiwei's humanitarian endeavours advocate for those who endure poverty and oppression and whose voices often go unheard.

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