Our initial post from this past April, we draw your attention to (but this is very much an “on-going” story, as we noted then). Other pertinent posts here on the Allen Ginsberg Project regarding Ai Weiwei include: notes on his 2011 NYC Asia Society exhibition (here – and with further remarks and commentary here) and video of Geandy Pavon’s stunning urban guerilla projection (sic – that took place contemporaneous with his detention) – as well as tracking (some tracking) of the story (via reporting from the London-based Guardian, and the always-provocative, always-intelligent, Hyperallergic).
Recent up-dates: “Chinese state press questions donations to Ai Weiwei“, “Ai Weiwei tax bill; artist says he has ‘paid the ransom'” “ “Ai Weiwei pays 820,000 pounds (8.45m yuan) in tax evasion case – and, in another unheralded twist, “Ai Weiwei invesigated over..(wait for it!)..nude art”!
This very week (today, in fact), Ai appears on the cover of the current (international) edition of Newsweek magazine, in an exclusive interview – “Ai Weiwei – Chinese Dissident Artist Speaks About His Prison Ordeal” (with the delightfully-named Isaac Stone Fish). The full text of that interview may be read here.
The trailer for Alison Klayman’s film, Ai Weiwei – Never Sorry has been out for some time now (it’s actually scheduled now, not for 2011 (as the above image shows), but for a, 2012 – maybe Sundance – release) and is well worth viewing. It may be seen here.
Klayman talks about the subject of her film and her experience with him, on CNN, here.