Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Radically Human

If art is meant to be about expression, Ai Weiwei is expressing for 70 million. That number , he explained, represents the total number of people around the world being forced out of their homes during the current refugee crisis.

“Every two seconds, one person is being forced out. It’s mad. ”

His recent works have focused on just this.

A massive, gleaming, brown-and-white structure sits at the center of Weiwei’s latest exhibition. The composition is a delicately crafted 60-foot model of the emblematic inflatable life rafts often used by the masses of people who are escaping their home countries. Constructed of bamboo and silk, using traditional Chinese kite-making techniques, the provocative and thoughtful piece is as visually stunning as it is stinging. “Life Cycle” presents a symbol of the social injustice infusing the current global situation, and is also a nod to the Beijing-born artist’s past: as a teenager, he experienced life as a refugee himself, when he was “robbed” of his own humanity.

Once spoken of as the world’s most powerful and most dangerous artist in the same breath, Ai Weiwei has spent the last 40-plus years of his life exercising his artistic prowess with frequently provocative and wildly subversive works. A truly controversial figure, he has been met with reverence while simultaneously enduring an equal amount of repression and contention.

As a lifelong adversary of the Chinese government, he has seen a lifetime’s worth of less-than-cordial interactions. He has personally lived through an immense amount of political strife, beginning from birth as the son of a poet who—in the eyes of the state—held rightist views and whose work resulted in his family being exiled and declared an enemy of the state when Weiwei was only one year old. Being beaten by police, being jailed for 81 days and having his art studio bulldozed are only some of the trials Weiwei has faced

throughout his career. Stone by stone, these events have led to the artist-activist widening his focus to transcend state borders with a new purpose: to face the issues of humanity as a whole.

Magnitude is a consistent theme for Weiwei. For his most-talked-about piece, Sunflower Seeds, he laid out 100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, to create what looked like an infinite landscape. The exhibit was a commentary on the economics of mass production in China. His immersive, larger-than-life pieces express the breadth of his thought, even if just by their sheer scale, touching on issues important to all of us: human rights, freedom of expression, censorship. His actions, while often brash, show his humanitarian concern through and through, but within his thoughts and his words is quite simply a human, concerned about other humans.

In anticipation of meeting Mr. Ai Weiwei, one can’t help but feel unprepared and thoroughly uninformed. We were further shaken as he strode into the studio. With a stern demeanor, the burly 61-year-old lent a stoic but powerful presence that seemed to carry weight without words. He padded through the aisles between desks, simply observing in silence and greeting each person with a slight tilt of his head. He finally settled in front of our camera and lights, belligerence suddenly gone as he prepared to speak. Where some can be glib or even skittish in facing the public, Ai Weiwei is steady and perfectly centered. This is one man who has gone an exceedingly long way beyond caring what others may think of him.

So having this much accessible knowledge creates an issue? Yes, it takes stronger action. Of course, there's more possibilities—many young people do [act]. Our sense of art and design is still developing quite fast. But still, we need to find out how to have a global view, to see humanity as one. To have a balanced view and not have political involvement, I think that's a challenge. Especially, if you see in [the] US or Europe, where the political situations can be extremely unpredictable. People feel powerless.

What is something immediate we ourselves can do to positively impact humanity—tangible ways for youth to have a renewed understanding of “human rights”? I think to act on instinct is very important, because we all know what's right and what's wrong. [It’s important to] not be afraid to make mistakes but to really act and do a small thing. To do something you clearly think should be done. Every individual can make something happen. Not just think about it or talk about it, but really make something happen. That's very important. Not just for the individual, but for everybody.

Q & A

Where do you see humanity at this moment in time? It's a very critical moment. On one hand, life has never been so easy and so prosperous in many Western nations. [In] technology and media, we are so much better. It's immeasurable how much better our communication is, because [the] Internet and technology provides us with a new condition that human beings never had. We could never imagine before gather[ing] information and knowledge if our families don’t have social status. Today it's possible. It's right there; you can easily have it for free. At the same time, society has never been so irresponsible. People have been put in a [privileged] situation, yet poor people have been so divided from highly privileged society. That gives society a very strong gap. It can cause human crisis and, of course, the crisis is always a "humanity" crisis. We have so much, but we're incapable to make a move or to act. That creates a psychological problem for the individual as a human being. You know so much, but you don't act on your judgment or beliefs. You're not doing the right thing—[it’s] almost impossible for you to do. It's almost like you know too much, but you’re not acting at all. I think that can cause problems.

You use art as a vehicle to create dialogue. What are other ways for people to evoke a consciousness? Yes, we talk about humanity not as the individual. We talk about community and society in magazines, online or even [through] product. They always have to show attitude, always have to show a clear message. Besides, in a commercial sense, you still have to let people know who you are, what you believe in and why you are doing it.

True. We work a lot with brands, and it's a difficult thing. Yeah, you can easily get lost just for numbers or business, which is nonsense. We are human beings. We deeply, emotionally understand what is good and bad, and if we don't defend those things.… Numbers are meaningless. They’re abstract.

You use social media yourself—Twitter, Instagram. What’s the idea behind having people read quotes out loud from your book, Humanity, on social media? Humanity is a book published by my friend Larry Warsh. It's about my efforts in making this film, Human Flow. So we interviewed over 600 people, and have been interviewed over 300 times. There’s a lot of quotes we put together. So to have this book, to have people read it

and really get people physically involved, is to speak out. Many times we're not speaking out and we're not taking action. Taking action is not so difficult; we just have to be consciously doing that. And if everyone adds up, I think the environment will change. The temperature will change. It will be a very different season.

What are your thoughts on this digital age, where everyone has a platform to speak? It's good we all have a platform. [This means] we're almost flat. Everyone can use this technology, but still the competition is very clear. Only people who have the message, who come from new forms and new language would stand out from this. Even though you have a new platform, you still use old vocabulary and old language. It doesn't really work that well. But how do we create a new vocabulary, one that breaks out and brings out this freshness? That's what we want. We want to open a window and let wind blow in. We want to encourage young people and young minds to be brave and to really make a difference.

Speaking on the youth a bit, what are the ways in which this new technology will shape tomorrow's leaders? What are some advantages and disadvantages? I think we are living in a transaction time, and the new generation comes from the Internet and looks at the instances that it works differently—but still it's a transaction. It's still a struggle between the old and new. But obviously the young generation will have the world, it's logic. So how well are they prepared? How much do they understand the history and the responsibility that will be on their shoulders? It will be interesting to see.

You speak about this idea of individuality. And in our creative fields, there's a lot of emphasis on that. Do you think our society's obsession with "individuality" is a good thing? It's always a struggle between a person and a society, between an individual and collective power. But individuality, it requires personal struggle. There's no such thing that exists as "individuality." Our character, who we are, is really [formed] through struggle. Those struggles define how we behave, how we think we are, and what we defend. So we always renew this individuality. And with today's technology, the speed of renewal is much faster. In older times, you [could] have one character or one identity for 20 years, 30 years. But in this time, maybe every three, four years, you look at yourself very differently, with a different profession, a different way you think about the world. You're facing very different kinds of problems, so it's much faster.

You have always had a constant, clear message with what you want to convey with art and activism. What are some of the renewals that you've encountered? My case is, I started early because I said I'll never become radical. I was born radical because my father was punished the year I was born. So when I was growing up, we were in the Gobi desert, very remote. The furthest location you can be in northwest China. Basically my father was considered an enemy of the people. He was a poet, you know. But to be considered an enemy of the people, an enemy of the party is possibly the most severe crime you can commit. So he had to clean public toilets. I grew up with him in the kind of conditions … I'll show you a photo later and you'll understand. We dug a hole underground and we lived there—us, symbolically, being punished because we really lived lower than any other people. Other people are already living in very bad

conditions, farmers you know, uneducated farmers, but we had to really live under there for years. Maybe that did something good for me, to understand humanity, to understand there's social injustice, to understand all this when I was young.

But I would never have had a chance to become someone like I am today, to have a voice, to speak out for issues, [if it weren’t for] the Internet. So, I suddenly found the Internet’s possibilities: if I tap some words in the middle of the night, next morning 300,000 people have already read it. I said, "My God, this is not possible"—you become like a god. How can [this] be possible? In a very remote area to do something like that? So I over-enjoyed, and of course ended up in jail and was beaten, all kinds of. They shut off my Internet and till today, you cannot type in my name into Chinese Internet. Ridiculous, but it's true, anything related to me will be omitted and deleted. Whole articles will disappear. But that made me understand, to openly have communication, it's so precious for any society. And so I always stayed under the spotlight, trying to protect myself and my voice, so I would be more safe. It brought me some very beautiful moments, and of course a lot of hurt and struggle. But it's worth it, you know.

So I just wanted to touch on a few things in current politics. Why do you think there's such an emphasis on exclusionary policies and immigration reforms around the world? Especially in a society where we’re so connected digitally. I think we have to understand our history. Not too long ago, we still had slaves. We [Americans] imported Africans. We had slaves. Not too long ago, we had to push the Jewish away if they wanted to immigrate. Millions have been killed. The Berlin Wall only collapsed about 30 years ago. It's part of human nature, to see other people as the enemy, to try to say they're responsible for our mistakes, to try to create this kind of difference. And the US is sending 100 billion [dollars] in arms to Saudi Arabia. We know how Saudi Arabia works in politics. They just killed one journalist in the Turkish embassy and still they denied it.

So we have to talk about larger scales because we produce so much weaponry. Why do we produce so much? Why do we have to sell to nations that no one can trust? What are those arms being used for? The billions of dollars spent on arms, and we refuse to accept a few Mexican people who work hard in this society? And a society where much of that land was taken from Mexicans, not to forget about that. So it's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, all these political arguments which see other people as our enemies, and to not understand humanity. Especially in policy-making, you have a government elected [by its people], but they’re not really doing anything to support human rights. [The government] violates and destroys the establishment. They’re moving backwards, and people feel powerless. How do we stop it? This is democracy, right? So how do we stop it?

Many of us feel a kind of helplessness toward the government. With all these issues we have, what are your thoughts toward that? I think young people should revolt. Form your own government, form your own party. Why do you only have two parties that [favor] standing on the left leg or right leg, but [are both attached to] the same body? You don't have really two parties, it's really just about one system. We all know that's not democracy. But why don't you form your

“FREEDOM ONLY COMES THROUGH INNER STRUGGLE —INTELLECTUAL,

IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND

THAT. THROUGH , YOUR EFFORTS

YOU MAKE YOUR LIFE MEANINGFUL .

THAT MEANING COMES FROM

STRUGGLE. ”

own party? And you know, it's not necessarily that youwin, but it's necessary that you fight. That's your life, youonly have one life: you don't waste that time, you don'tfeel sorry about your life. You will not tell your children,“I never made that effort.” So-called democracy is tosupport personal freedom. And if you have total personalfreedom [and] you never use it? So it's not a freedom. Sobasically the individual has imprisoned himself or herselfby this kind of lie.

In China, obviously there is censorship and control,but in a country like the US, you’re supposed to havedemocracy and individual freedom. As Americans, whydo you think we still aren't satisfied with that? Can itever feel like it's enough? Or is it something we'll alwaysfeel we want more of?There are several things. First, mainstream education.There’s a lot of brainwashing and propaganda in theWest because you really have a regional view ratherthan a global view about the position of the US and ofthe West. How do you gain that kind of power? How doyou maintain that kind of power? This has to be a veryglobal study. But it doesn't take a very smart mind or anintellectual to understand it. If we can all understandpersonal relations, then we can understand state relations.

Why, as an area, does Africa have to be so difficult anddry, poor, no education, no food? Why is it that here [in

the US], food can be poured into the ocean? What makes things happen like that? Why do some nations stay so strong and have nuclear bombs and all those arms, and why do some nations barely have food to eat? Why does the world have to be so imbalanced? Those things can be easily understood.

But if we don't take this kind of global thinking or study, we can be easily trapped to think, oh, we have freedom [as the answer]. What is freedom? Can any freedom be automatically given to you, by your grandfather or by some kind of constitution? It’s a lie. Freedom only comes through inner struggle—intellectual, if you can understand that. Through your efforts, you make your life meaningful. That meaning comes from struggle. If you think you were born with freedom, that's a lie. You never had freedom. You never used your life to defend certain beliefs, not only just for you, but for brotherhood, for someone you never met, for your daughter or your son. You never know who could be suffering. So can you really accept all that and chalk it up to “freedom,” or do you think it’s ignorance?

How do you wake up each day and face the largest issue of "humanity" as a whole? It’s a good question. It doesn't matter your social status, or how long your journey has been—doesn't matter how difficult the journey is. The next step is, can you make it solid? How you appreciate life itself, the next morning— whether you wake up fresh and whether you feel grateful about the life that's been given to us for unknown reasons. I think that's the most important. We always have to go back to the bottom. Nothing has happened. Today is a new day. Maybe I wouldn't have this day or this moment. This can always be our last moment. Who knows? There's magic about this planet. Us as the human race is already completely magical. We have to be grateful. We have to think, 'Okay, let's use this energy to make something better. To appreciate and be grateful to life.' That's it, nothing more than that.

What do we have to feel optimistic for? Simply being optimistic doesn't work. We have to be positive. We have to think there are so many things we can do to improve the situation, and there are so many things we haven't done. If we think we're smart, we're capable—let's make something happen. And it may be a total failure, but we made an effort, you know. Effort is the most important.