Ai Weiwei is famous for much more than his art. As a champion for the right to free expression and against arbitrary state power, his actions reach far beyond the art world. His work is infused with a deep social and political commitment: when he brings 1,001 Chinese citizens from all classes and regions to Documenta 12, when he strews over 100 million hand-made porcelain sunflower seeds across the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, when he creates a frieze of school bags commemorating the many children who fell victim to the tragedy of the Sichuan earthquake, or when he visits the refugee camps of the world to engage with often-ignored individual fates in his film Human Flow. In 2011, Ai was detained for 81 days by the Chinese police for his relentless questioning of authorities, and his passport was taken away. Despite international protests he received it back only in 2015. Finally traveling outside of China again, setting up base in Berlin and lately in Portugal, he has now become a truly global artist, whose work is always informed by his activism and vice versa. Focusing on the recent decade of art and activism by one of the most outspoken artists of our time, this edition provides TASCHEN’s previous Ai Weiwei monograph with a comprehensive update. Now exploring 40 years of work, the book ranges from the artist’s exile in ’80s New York, through sculptures based in Chinese traditions and craftsmanship after his return to China, to his latest works conceived in Europe: toy-brick mosaics, films, and installations championing human rights. This book is itself a historical document: initially produced as the first in-depth monograph in close collaboration with the artist during a time when he still couldn’t travel abroad, now the same team has reconvened to continue the story. Countless images from Ai’s archives show the studio day-to-day, the artwork production, the political actions. They are accompanied by artist’s statements made especially for this book, and by three far-ranging essays: independent curator Roger M. Buergel and art historian Alfred Weidinger, who both worked with the artist on major exhibitions, discuss the work and its development in thematic detail, while long-time friend, the entrepreneur and collector Uli Sigg, delivers a personal portrait of the artist from two points in time.
