More Ai Weiwei news. All four of his associates (reported on last week) have now officially been freed – Wen Tao, Hu Mingfen, Liu Zhenggang and Zhang Jinsong. All four, like Ai, still face significant charges. Ai has been slapped with a $1.85 million tax bill (5 million yuan in back taxes and 7 million yuan in fines). He plans to challenge this.
Meanwhile, his show of photographs opens in New York. Melissa Chiu of The Asia Society has this video report. Above, his image of Allen, together with photographer, Robert Frank, is one of 227 photographs on view through August 14th. There are quite a few others of Allen, around his East 12th Street apartment, but more broadly the photos document a gritty but culturally vibrant East Village and Lower East Side that, sadly, no longer exists.
Due to timing complications, the catalog is back-ordered, but will be available in mid July. It reproduces every image in the show, and includes an interview with Alison Klayman.