Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour
8.13
Ratings: 8.13/10 from 46 users.
Arts documentary, first broadcast before Ai Weiwei's arrest by the Chinese authorities in April 2011, and his subsequent release after being detained for 11 weeks.
Architect, photographer, curator and blogger, Ai Weiwei is China's most famous and politically outspoken contemporary artist.
Alan Yentob explores the story of Ai Weiwei's life and art, and reveals how this most courageous and determined of artists continues to fight for artistic freedom of expression while living under the restrictive shadows of authoritarian rule.
Pity he exists, a strawman created by China's elite.
What would have impressed me more would have been if he had flown all those people over from china who had made the seeds from his studio to experience the exhibition, Instead of middle class people. It kind of defeats the purpose of the work.
the way a sunflower moves to always face the sun, a symbol of the totality of China's cultural revolution, to produce it's seeds as symbolic super commodities for the west, is incredibly apt.
Our Perception of this is what is "Sick" the Artist is Spokes Person for the Community what he must tell them are secrets the secrets he must tell them are their Secrets
Also can't help but notice him using Apple products. Tisk, tisk.
So we're meant to believe that in any "socialist society" the only pleasure you can expect is in a pocket full of sunflower seeds? With all due respect to Ai Weiwei, as he's a magnificent artist, and certainly his family suffered greatly, he's confusing what he went through in China with something that China was decidedly not: the pinnacle and solitary example of socialism. He's lived in modern-day Germany, so he should know well enough that socialism does not always equal authoritarian state. Socialism is a broad term that covers many different methods of achieving a particular goal. The same can be said of Capitalism, which under certain interpretations, and at the hands of certain leaders, has achieved it's own substantial death toll. In fact, the China of today seems hard at work adding to said toll.
Very talented artist. Brave and what a cool name. Awesome! Thanks for this one.
a remarkable story about a remarkable man.
something that you can think about.
china should spend less time policing it's artists and more time policing it's products! 8X
Nothing can stop ART, not even the artist. If one doesn't express it in a physical way, it continues to dance in one's mind while walking, eating, loving, while dreaming.
Art is like blood, it flows where it needs to flow.
az
Utterly beautiful, Have they been sold yet ? I heard they were going to be sold by the sackfull. Makes me sad to think they will go that way, 100 million together is stunning. 100 million people with one seed each, sharing an understanding is even more so. A sackfull is pointless.
@TDF Thanks for another good one.
To Anthony Williams , I thought it was because of the ceramic dust that was created from the seeds breaking from people walking on it. Ceramic dust is really bad for the lungs as it clings to the pores of yours alveoli.
Interesting, looks like he doesn't actually make any of his stuff it's all conception, still good though.
Now I understand why they stopped people from walking on the sunflower seeds after their installation, I guess someone figured out the message of having thousands of western consumers walking all over the hand made Chinese ceramic was a little politically ignorant, lol, and you can also see why the fat emperor of Chinese art was equally miffed when they stopped it, since that was probably part of his "idea" for the work. Luckily for the the Chinese their industry isn't wholly at the disposal of Weiwei, lol and thus the widgets they usually churn out aren't as entirely useless as a sea of sunflower seeds.
A very ordinary, but special man. :-)
Ai Weiwei is such a nice breath of fresh air in an art world dominated by meaningless drabble produced by the damien hirsts and jeff koons of the world and bought and displayed by the eli broads of the world. finally it seems that art stands for something real again... thanks Ai!
A great piece of film and Art.