Who Is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?

I posted last month when the Chinese government arrested artist and political critic Ai Weiwei. You can find in depth coverage of the situation surrounding Ai Weiwei - including reports on the detention of his associates and other critics of the government - here at The Guardian. You might also check out this trailer for a forthcoming Frontline documentary on Ai Weiwei.

It seems appropriate today to raise questions concerning Ai Weiwei's whereabouts. Why? Because today a set of his sculptures will "open" in Central Park. You can find a story here about Ai, his art, and his politics; npr broadcast it yesterday, using the New York City "opening" as a pretext. Rather than lift a picture of Ai or of his works, I thought it more appropriate to pilfer this image. What you have is a photograph of a projection that, according to news reports, an artist operating under the pseudonym Cpak Ming surreptitiously made late last week onto the exterior of the Barracks of the People's Liberation Army in the center of Hong Kong.* The projection depicts Ai and asks rhetorically "Who Is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?" Asked and answered?
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* The same image reportedly (look here too) also is being stenciled elsewhere in Hong Kong.

Ai Weiwei on Democracy and Development

Ai Weiwei ~ White House (1999)

"You cannot simply give up fundamental beliefs in human rights for a short-term gain.

This kind of thinking will cause tragedy in the future. It is going to be a strong challenge for the nations of the world to survive economically and at the same time protect civilized values, which come from the long struggle of science and humanitarianism.

We see the tendency in the world to criticize democracy and sometimes even to say that authoritarian countries like China are more efficient. That is very short-sighted. China looks efficient only because it can sacrifice most people's rights. This is not something the west should be happy about. In a town like Guangzhou there are thousands of workers who suffer injuries such as losing fingers in work accidents. They are on low salaries. They have no future.

Since the global economic crisis began, the change in global attitudes is clear to see – and I think it is pitiful. Barack Obama came to China and he is probably the only president of the United States never to mention the words "human rights" in public. You see it in France, with Hu Jintao's visit last week. How can people be so short-sighted? How can they betray those basic values?" ~ Ai Weiwei (7 Nov 2010)

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been in the news both in Britain [1] [2] [3] [4] and back home [1] [2] [3] over the past several weeks. He has taken it upon himself to not only challenge his own government, but to characterize in a straightforward way the craven behavior of Western politicians - "pitiful." His outspokenness has gotten him warnings from the Chinese authorities. Just as an aside, Ai seems to be yet another of the architects who, in one or another way, weave art and politics together as they encounter the world.

Anish Kapoor, Leviathan & Ai Weiwei

I know British sculptor Anish Kapoor exclusively because pictures of his work grace the covers of some recent CDs by the talented and intriguing pianist Vijay Iyer. Here are a couple of examples:


And here is an enthusiasm I posted a while back indicating why I think Iyer is an intriguing fellow. This is a guy I'd like to talk art and politics with some day. All that, however, is something of a diversion from the more pressing matter at hand.

Recently Kapoor has been in the news for having installed a massive sculpture at the Grand Palais (Paris). He calls the piece "Leviathan" which is appropriate in multiple ways; first because, like fantastic monsters of the deep, it swallows up visitors, but also, in a Hobbesian vein, because Kapoor has dedicated the sculpture to Ai Weiwei, the artist/provocateur who has been detained incommunicado by Chinese authorities for a month. Earlier posts on Ai, his arrest, and some of the response to his predicament are here. Like Kapoor, who urges habeas corpus on the Chinese authorities, The Guardian rightly asks: Where is Ai Weiwei?
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P.S.1: I find it ironic that right-wing outlets, normally viscerally averse to the intermingling of art and politics, apparently find it wholly laudable in this instance. Need a good example? Read this missive from The Wall Street Journal.

P.S.2: This is a post that the blogger folks disappeared and that I have tried to reconstruct. It may differ from the the initial version in marginal ways.

Ai Weiwei as the Al Capone of China

It is well known that the U.S. Government convicted mobster Al Capone of tax evasion when they couldn't get him for running liquor during Prohibition. Well, the Chinese government has convicted Ai Weiwei of tax evasion too rather than charge him with some nefarious political infraction. Now, according to this report in The New York Times, Ai Weiwei also is head of something like a money laundering gang!

Ai Weiwei Tweets

Here is a set of self portraits that Ai Weiwei recently has tweeted; you'll note that he is dressed in a slightly ill-fitting police uniform. According to this report in The New York Times, the tweets are prompted by Ai's ongoing legal battles with the Chinese tax authorities. Ai has been physically prevented from attending the proceedings. Essentially, the Chinese government (as I've noted here before) has adopted the Al Capone strategy - when you have a "trouble maker" charge him with tax fraud rather than with some substantive sort of wrongdoing.

Say It With Flowers

From the series "Study in Perspective” (1995-2003) © Ai Weiwei.

Over the past week or so, The New York Times has run two stories [1] [2] on the floral war Ai Weiwei is waging against the Chinese regime. At issue is the fact that the government has impounded Ai's passport, preventing him from traveling. It seems that the flowers carry pretty much the same message as the photo lifted above.

You've Heard of Naked Self-Interest? Well, Here are Instances of Naked Solidarity

Self Portrait © Aliaa Magda al-Mahdy

This is an image Aliaa Magda al-Mahdy, a young Egyptian woman living in Cairo, recently posted on her blog. You can find a report here at The New York Times and another here at The Guardian. Unsurprisingly, she has received scant support from any end of the political spectrum in Egypt. Conservatives are pressing charges, liberals are running away fast and far. But she has received solidarity from this group of Israeli women.

Israeli women posing for a photograph in Tel Aviv, to show
solidarity with Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy.
Photograph © REUTERS/Anat Cohen.

And this, apparently is simply one instance of a virtual epidemic of such bare solidarity. In China, authorities have accused Zhao Zhao, an assistant to artist Ai Weiwei, of possessing pornography because he had pictures on his camera of Ai naked with several women. And today, his friends and supporters stripped in support of the artist. You can find reports here and here in The Guardian. And here are, respectively, the offending photo and a sample of the the subsequent expressions of solidarity.

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses with nude women in Beijing.
Photograph © Afp/AFP/Getty Images.

Listen, Chinese Government： Nudity is not Pornography

Free Expression, Patriotism & Zoe Strauss at the White House

I do not know photographer Zoe Strauss though I have posted here - more or less without comment - on her work.* Strauss, it seems, has created a bit of a fracas by posting this photo of herself on Facebook. In the snapshot she is attending a White House reception for LGBT activists last week. And Strauss is expressing her, to my mind wholly justified, estimation of Ronald Reagan whose portrait hangs behind her.

Two things are important here. First, let's not re-write history. While he was president, Reagan was, simply put, a reactionary bigot regarding the AIDS epidemic which, we should recall, erupted with full force during his administration. There is no need to retell the sordid tale, but if you are interested start here and here and here. There is no reason whatsoever to "respect" a president, former or current, for ignorance and inaction in the face of a lethal epidemic. Even if, as some on the right would like to do, one wanted to rationalize Reagan's long silence in the face of the epidemic, it is difficult to excuse the repressive, ineffective policies he advocated once he did open his mouth. This 1987 graphic from the ACT UP archives suggests how activists at the time viewed 'the gipper.' I see no reason to revise their estimation.

Second, gay Republicans - to say nothing of the mouthpieces in the right wing media - are getting their knickers in a knot about Strauss's action. Here is Christian Berle, a pooh-bah of sorts among the Log Cabin Republicans:

"It is unfortunate that the image conservative America is seeing today of LGBT people is of gay leftists misbehaving at the White House, rather than the millions of patriotic, decent LGBT citizens, many of whom, like Log Cabin Republicans, hold President Ronald Reagan in high esteem. . . .  These photographs have hurt our community and make advocating for inclusion and equality more difficult. The participants should be ashamed."

It is really difficult to know where to start with this bit of nonsense. One obvious problem is that gays and lesbians have not attained such equality as they have to date by being polite. Another problem, of course, is that there is nothing unpatriotic about criticizing a president or, for that matter, the presidency more generally. Nothing whatsoever. So let us not be hypocritical. I wonder what Mr. Berle (and his Foxy friends) might say about this image, made by Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei.

White House (1999) ~ From the series "Study of Perspective." Photograph © Ai Weiwei.

Is it OK for dissidents from repressive Communist regimes to express their discontent - the bird in this image is the photographer's own middle digit - with human rights policies emanating from the White House? If not, why not? If so, do we only support dissent by foreigners urging some president or other to be tough on communists?

Zoe Strauss exercised her right to free speech. Good for her.
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* Strauss's work is largely beside the point in the current context. That said, I do like it!

Say It Ain't So, Jackie Chan!

Among my fondest memories from the years when my oldest sons Jeffrey and Douglas were little are of watching Jackie Chan movies. The movies are so goofy that they'd send the boys into peals of joyous laughter.  Turns out that Jackie is considerably less critical of the Chinese regime than is Ai Weiwei, and their differences are making a bit of a splash in the press. Like here at The Guardian. I have to say this is disappointing. But it won't stop me from watching Chan's movies with August and (soon enough) Esme.

Digest

I've come across several interesting items sitting here this evening trying to recuperate from a visit to may parents this weekend. Susan and I took August to see my folks. Given the continuous misbehavior of his mom, who refuses to comply with visitation, August rarely gets that chance. And so, he acted weirdly much of the time even though my mother was bending over backwards to try to accommodate him. In any case, the weekend was mostly uneventful.

And here is what I found when I got home.

Dani Rodrik has an OpEd here in his regular series at Project Syndicate on the tensions between Islamists and democracy.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger has a multi-part podcast here charting the Path Forward for Progressives.

The Institute for New Economic Thinking is offering this free on-line course on the Economics of Money and Banking - taught be Perry Mehrling.

And the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) has an exhibition of Ai Weiwei that I want to get up to see. 

 

Using Drones to Make Magic Not War

Find out how here in this story about Laurie Anderson and her collaboration with Ai Weiwei in The New York Times.

How China Sees the World

The cover of current issue (17 June 2013), art by Ai Weiwei. Let's put aside the idea that China is a homogenous locus of sensory capacities and hence able to see anything. Apparently the government might well see the world as coming up roses.

Jonathon Keats on Art & Politics

A short while ago I wrote this post prompted by an an essay in (of all places) Forbes by critic Jonathon Keats. In the meantime I have come across two more posts by Keats on the intersection of art and politics that also are smart and provocative. The first - here - is an astute analysis of the ways Pussy Riot traverses that intersection. The second- here - is takes up contrasting modes of "pragmatism" at work in the flamboyant politics of Ai Weiwei and the more easily assimilated performances of Cai Guo-Qiang. Both offerings are highly recommended. I admit that I am not a regular Forbes reader. Keats may change that.

Reading Around

Two essays by John Gray - whom I typically find both smart and provocatively misguided; one on the legacy of Keynes, the other on the vacuity of Slavoj Žižek.

At The New York Times, a pre-release backgrounder on the film "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry."

And, finally, an Editorial from Nature on the Republican attempts to eliminate political science funding at the NSF.

Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent

Here is a link to the newly established Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent including notice of the three inaugural winners of the prize - Ai Weiwei, Manal al-Sharif, and Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Of course, there is nothing wrong with giving prizes to courageous people and the three winners clearly are impressive. That said, I wonder if the foundations might've stuck out their necks just the slightest bit and bestowed the award on people who do not already occupy a prominent place in the western media. They might, in other words not just rewarded courage but exhibited it too. 

Moreover, while I agree that dissent often requires tremendous creativity - more so than most of what passes for "entrepreneurship" - how about those engaging in pedestrian resistance to oppressive regimes? Read Disturbing the Peace. In it Havel describes the Plastic People of the Universe - the group of musical misfits and hangers on whose persecution offered the reason for Charter 77. These were not glamorous "dissidents" or "artists" who received big commissions or traveled to this or that Biennale around the world. They were a bunch of "kids" who were being harassed and badgered by the Czechoslovak police because they wanted to play rock and roll. That was dangerous business. But they were not in the headlines. In other words, in addition to being a bit courageous the award committee and its funders might also work some at being creative themselves. 

The Prize committee might look for incipient dissent, the political opposition that might not be recognized as especially creative as it stands but that is no less crucial for that.

Andrei Sannikov ~ Political Prisoner in Belarus

I have in the past noted persistent political repression in Belarus and those who've spoken out against it. This morning I came across this plea written for Andrei Sannikov by his sister. Sannikov has been sentenced to prison for five years in response to his lawful and peaceful political activities. It is nearly certain that he has been tortured while in captivity. You can find an open letter - signed by, among others, Ai Weiwei & Václav Havel - decrying political repression in Belarus here.

He's Baaacck!

Those afraid of Ai Weiwei must be dismayed. His tweets apparently have resumed.
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Update (12 August): There is a further, more recent, report here.

Death and Taxes or, The Evolution of Show Trials

It is interesting to witness the evolution of show trials - back in the Stalinist days, Soviet officials were compelled to admit to various counterrevolutionary deviations. And then they were exiled to rot in the frozen waste or simply executed. If we are to judge from the recent experience of Ai Weiwei the Chinese seem to have refined the process in a contemporary way: no executions, just forced detention, a "confession," enforced silence, and then . . . a visit from the Tax Collectors. Of course, there is still the persecution of Liu Xiaobo and many other critics. So, perhaps the regime has not gotten more refined after all.

Chinese Authorities Arresting Critics

According to these reports in The New York Times, Chinese authorities are more or less systematically detaining critics, notably artists and writers. Prominence seems no longer to afford any protection, as the regime has detained even the very visible artist Ai Weiwei. (This helpful post at The New Yorker provides some context. This is not the first time he has had run-ins with the authorities - you can find a digest here at The Guardian.)