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Following on from our exciting on-the-ground report of Chinese artist and social critic Ai Weiwei’s Shanghai studio party, we post excerpts from an article published by MutualArt.com in which Ai claims “the Internet will bring [the Chinese government] to an end.” Ai Weiwei served up 10,000 local river crabs at the party, a mocking reference to the word for censorship used by China’s administration.
Kitchen-hands serve up appetizers at Ai Weiwei's studio party, an activist event held early in November this year. Image courtesy of Rachel Marsden.
“The Internet is the best gift to China,” he is quoted by MutualArt.com as saying. “This kind of technology will end this kind of dictatorship.” Ai Weiwei was able to regularly update his Twitter account while under house arrest.
The article discloses the artist’s strong views of the current Chinese political system, said in a phone conversation with news agency AFP:
“This society is not efficient, it’s inhuman in many ways politically…. The government, the whole system… sacrifices education, environmental resources and most people’s interests just to make a few people become extremely rich only because they are associated with the government…. This cannot last too long…. This society basically has no creativity. It’s just cheap labour and very police-controlled. How long can that last?”
Click here to read the full article by MutualArt.com.
Ai Weiwei was released from his two-day house arrest on the night of Sunday 8 November.
Want to learn more about the history of politics and governance in China? Interested in learning more about art by this controversial artist? Click here to browse the hand-crafted selection of books on Chinese contemporary art listed on our online store.
KN/HH
Related Posts:
- Ai Weiwei’s studio party cancelled? Art Radar was there – November 2010 – original reporting (with images), see for yourself what took place
- Ai Weiwei fills Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds – October 2010 – another original Art Radar report on an Ai Weiwei event, this time by Chinese art expert and guest contributor Pippa Dennis
- Is China shooting a cultural missile at at Taiwanese art? Taipei Times examines– April 2010 – a summary of an insightful editorial that explores “cross-pollination” of culture (or the lack thereof) between Taiwan and China
- China to use “soft power” of arts for international influence – January 2010 – Toronto Star article summary, media and culture a powerful tool to China
- Picasso of China or voice of dissent: Who is Ai Weiwei? Profile – September 2009 – an early look at the life and work of Ai Weiwei
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