Ai Weiwei(Chinese: δδ); born 28 August 1957 in Beijing) is a ChineseContemporary artist and activist. His father’s side’s original surname is aijing collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics.As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government‘s stance on democracy and human rights. He has investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of so-called “tofu-dreg schools” in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.In 2011, following his arrest at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, he was held for 81 days without any official charges being filed; officials alluded to their allegations of “economic crimes”.
“Crab” He Xie 2010 Photo:. Cathy Carver Via Hirshhorn
“Ceramic Sunflower” Sunflower Seeds 2010
October 2010 at Tate Modern Tate Modern Gallery in London exhibited his installation art. This Ai Weiwei’s “Sunflower Seeds” is one hundred million works of ceramic sunflower seeds, half the floor space of 1000 square meters of covered after the turbine hall. Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall Turbine hall, 155 meters long, 23 meters wide and 35 meters high. China Jingdezhen ceramic sunflower seeds by 1,600 craftsmen spent two years in the traditional 20-30 step production techniques, carved from the mold, prime embryo color, kiln firing, repair run, check the flaw to loading was completed, the 150 t heavy ceramic sunflower seeds transported to London. One hundred million sunflower in 1,300-degree heat of the kiln firing, just like in real sunflower seeds absorb the sun’s energy.
Yao Bingwen