ai weiwei's blog: vertaald uit chinees

2011 MITTpress

"The opinions expressed in this book are all those of the autor. (...) The Internet became the primary source for such annotations, and as this book was assembled in China, fact checking necessitated "leaping over the Great Firewall", which in 2008-2009 was constantly updating its Internet-monitoring software and methods. At last, using a VPU allowed access to almost all websites otherwise unavailable to the average mainland browser (including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and occasionally Flickr). But once over the firewall, a more serious challenge was posed in reconciling the often extreme differences between Western and Chinese sources. These discrepancies are perhaps the last vestiges of the Cold War. I hope that through more translations like this one, our two civilizations can reconcile the 'facts'." Lee Ambrozy

No return: artshow in 1989

On jeanne Boden's Blog

http://jeanneboden.typepad.com/jeanneboden/art/

De Morgen In Beeld - Foto - De Morgen

De Morgen In Beeld - Foto - De Morgen

In China wordt opgeroepen tot manifestaties in dertien grote steden. Volgens mensenrechtenactivisten zijn sindsdien al een vijftiental advocaten en militanten preventief in hechtenis genomen door de autoriteiten. Ook het woord 'jasmijn' zou intussen gecensureerd worden op het net. © reuters

Broken fall...

Edward Burtynsky

Ai Weiwei (°1957):

Joel Shapiro (°1941):

ARTBRUSSELS 2010

ART BASEL

Drawings by Ai Weiwei

Signers Suitcase (Kurhaus Weissbad)

`

Roman Signer

http://www.dewitteraaf.be/edities/detail/nl/117

The Crack - Doris Salcedo "Shibboleth" at Tate Modern London

In memory of Szeto Wah

*In memory of Szeto Wah
- democracy fighter from Hong Kong


*Recently a number of huge public commemorations have taken place in Hong Kong. Thousands of Chinese have participated to honor and commemorate the poet, the Member of Parliament and the democracy activist Szeto Wah who died on January 2, 2011. A large number of Chinese dissidents have been trying to go to Hong Kong to attend the commemoration. But sadly, many have been rejected in the airport, as a direct consequence of Chinas growing influence in Hong Kong, despite of Chinas promise of regional autonomy.


*Besides of Szeto Wah's regional influence, his work has also influenced European art- and grassroot movements. As President of 'Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China' Szeto Wah received the Danish artist Jens Galschiot's 8 meter tall sculpture 'The Pillar of Shame', which was placed in Hong Kong in 1997 as a permanent memorial to the Tiananmen massacre in Beijing 1989. Today the sculpture has also become a symbol of the Chinese threat to freedom of speech and human rights in Hong Kong, after China's takeover of Hong Kong in 1997.

*The erection of the sculpture has caused so much anger in Beijing, that the Danish artist has been black listed in China and has several times been rejected entrance into Hong Kong despite of the agreement on visa free travel for Europeans. For this reason Jens Galschiot cannot participate in the commemoration of Szeto Wah. Being a brilliant poet
*
Szeto Wah was the one who gave Chinese names to both 'The Pillar of Shame' and its creator Jens Galschiot.

*On the funeral day on January 29th, Jens Galschiot and his son Lasse Galschiot declare:
"We had the honor of working with Szeto Wah on several occasions. We experienced his skills as he mastered the symbolic language and used creativity to generate debate and interest in the fight for a more humanistic society.

-For example he knew how to use western art, in shape of 'The Pillar of Shame'. Thereby internationalizing the struggle for a democratic Hong Kong, and maintain that Beijing does not have the right to restrict freedom of expression in Hong Kong. In 2008 we were denied entrance into Hong Kong, as we were taking part in the art happening 'TheColorOrange' which would focus on the human rights situation during the Olympics in China in 2008. But Szeto Wah was able to turn defeat into victory as he and other democracy advocates painted 'The Pillar of Shame' orange themselves - thereby bringing attention to the lack of freedom of speech in the country.

-We will remember Szeto Wah as a friend and a comrade in the struggle for a more humanistic world.

-The fight is far from won. But all sorts of advocates for a more humane world will commemorate Szeto Wah with honor and respect. And his visions and use of symbolic language will be an eternal source of inspiration for us to continue the fight."

-Szeto Wah's memorial will be a source of inspiration for future generations of democracy activists.

-*Jens Galschiot, sculptor Denmark and
Lasse Galschiot Markus, organizer and communications officer



*Contact/info/photos on Jens Galschiot: www.aidoh.dk, phone +45 6618 4058, aidoh@aidoh.dk and
Lasse Galschiot Markus +45 6170 3083

*We have collected a large number of links and photos about Szeto Wah at: http://www.aidoh.dk/Szeto

*Info: About the art happening TheColorOrange carried out in connection to the Olympics in Beijing, http://www.thecolororange.net/uk/

*Info: About the sculpture The Pillar of Shame, http://www.aidoh.dk/HK-Pillar

*Info: AboutThe Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China http://www.alliance.org.hk/english/index.html

*Info: About the Tiananmen massacre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

*Info and documentation: About the Tiananmen massacre: http://www.aidoh.dk/4June89

Replica of the Bird’s Nest Stadium in bamboo

Dropping the Urn - criticism

http://adobeairstream.com/component/zine/article/476-review-ai-weiwei-dropping-the-urn.htmlArt Review: Ai Weiwei Dropping the Urn

October 17, 2010
Written by Garth Clark


Art Review: Ai Weiwei Dropping the Urn

October 17, 2010
Written by Garth Clark


The catalog of Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Ceramic Works, 5000 BCE - 2010 CE, begins ominously, with the declaration, "...ceramics is kind of crazy. I hate ceramics... I think if you hate something too much, you have to do it. You have to use that." His ambivalent passion has been captured in this jewel-box of an exhibition. Organized by Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, Pennsylvania (February 24 - April 18, 2010) the show is currently at the Museum of Contemporary Craft (through October 30), in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon.

3th february - chinese new year: year of the rabbit

A placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year.

Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. A congenial time in which diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat again. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions without too much difficulty.

A time to watch out that we do not become too indulgent. The influence of the Rabbit tends to spoil those who like too much comfort and thus impair their effectiveness and sense of duty.

Law and order will be lax; rules and regulations will not be rigidly enforced. No one seems very inclined to bother with these unpleasant realities. They are busy enjoying themselves, entertaining others or simply taking it easy. The scene is quiet and calm, even deteriorating to the point of somnolence. We will all have a tendency to put off disagreeable tasks as long as possible

Money can be made without too much labor. Our life style will be languid and leisurely as we allow ourselves the luxuries we have always craved for. A temperate year with unhurried pace. For once, it may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances.

bamboo construction

Artists slingshot sunflower seeds into Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower Seeds on Sunflower Seeds from IOCOSE

Artists slingshot sunflower seeds into Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds

On January 29th, armed with slingshots and translucent surgical gloves, the four members of artist group IOCOSE shot real sunflower seeds into Ai Weiwei’s installation of 100 million hand-made porcelain sunflower seeds housed in the Tate Modern. A gesture that embraced Ai’s own philosophy of “what you see is not what you see, and what you see is not what it means,” IOCOSE also replaced the exhibition sign with a rendition of their own, which read “IOCOSE’s Sunflower Seeds on Sunflower Seeds.” The intervention has been greeted by some as “cheap publicity hack on a [much better known] artist” and as a “hit,” the product of “mischievous” artists.

Ultimately, Ai Weiwei chimed in via Twitter with “good work.”

hyperspace
iocose.org

The group IOCOSE has been working in Italy and Europe since 2006. It organizes actions in order to subvert ideologies, practices and processes of identification and production of meanings. It uses pranks and hoaxes as tactical means, as joyful and sound tools. IOCOSE thinks about the streets, internet and word of mouth as a battlefield. Tactics such as mimesis and trickery are used to lead and delude the audience into a semantic pitfall.

archive chinese avantgarde ART

Joint holding of the Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia and the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

The Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant Garde Art contains some 360 hours of digital video documenting the history of contemporary Chinese art, installation, and performance since 1985. Organized by Thomas Hahn, Curator of the Wason Collection, and Timothy Murray, Curator of the Rose Goldsen Archive, the Wen Pulin Archive is a unique international resource of video footage of art events, art performances, installations, and artist studio tours and interviews that traces the history of Chinese culture over this consequential twenty year period. This unique collection, which, due to the sensitive nature of its materials, is at present still restricted in use in China, will provide students and researchers with previously unseen documentation of the important developments in contemporary art in China over the past twenty years, the period of China's tremendous growth into a major venue of contemporary art and global culture. Cornell's acquisition of the Wen Archive marks the first of many planned collaborations with the new Dongtai Academy of Arts in Beijing, which is directed by its founder, Wen Pulin.

bamboo

google: bamboo scaffolding