Ai Weiwei

About this book

Artist designer architect author publisher and curator: Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) is a truly 21stcentury creative influential across a variety of media. During his childhood criticism of his fathers poetryhe was labeled as a dissidentmeant that Ai and his family were exiled to a remote region of China for 16 years. Following the death of Chairman Mao Ai left to train as an artist in Beijing and New York. Ai is today an artist of global stature and his strong social conscience has galvanized a generation of Chinese artists. With works that touch on topics such as imprisonment borders and disaster Ai has often found himself in conflict with the Chinese authorities. Ai Weiwei is published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Royal Academy in Londonthe largest showing of Ais work to date. This volume includes installations and artworks specially created for the exhibition an interview with Ai by Tim Marlow and contributions from a team of scholars analyzing the variety of Ais output and concerns.