The dreary weather gave me a chance to see a film I've wanted to catch for a long time: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist who has been pretty outspoken about the human rights abuses in China, one notable example being his work to uncover the shoddy school construction that led to many deaths from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. He also worked on the famous Bird's Nest stadium for the Olympics (which he later boycotted) and installed an exhibit at the Tate using one hundred million hand-painted sunflower seeds (yes, thats One Hundred. Million.)
Not surprisingly, he was detained by the Chinese government for three months on charges of 'tax evasion'. I've depicted him in a couple of my works: both 'The Others' in the E Pluibus Unum show and as part of an installation highlighting imprisoned artists.
The trailer from YouTube:
It you're on the east coast, you can see his work in person at the Hirshorn.
Radio West recently interviewed the filmmmaker as well.
http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/home/#collection=ai-weiwei-according-to-what
http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/ai-weiweis-art-dissent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/11/tate-modern-sunflower-seeds-reviewhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_schools_corruption_scandal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dtfeh6a01c
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1845773/
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