“I’m influenced by my father’s spirit, to speak out the truth and pay the consequences, and always stand on the part of the majority of the people, and not the power, not the government.” Ai Weiwei (b.1957) talks about how he was influenced by his father and why he feels that fighting the Chinese system is necessary. There are many dictatorships and authoritarian societies in the world today, because they are the result of basic human behavioral patterns, Weiwei says. He also talks about how he escaped China and went to New York, but decided to return after 12 years; how he works with Chinese cultural tradition in his art, and how he imagines the future of China.

Ai Weiwei’s work can also be seen at the German Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale. He has contributed with a sculpture of 886 antique stools that are arranged in interlocking arches. Ai Weiwei was unable to attend the Venice Biennale – where he also has two other installations – as the Chinese authorities denied him a visa.

Ai Weiwei was interviewed by Christian Lund at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark in December 2010.

Camera: Marie Friis Forchhammer.
Edited by: Martin Kogi
Produced by: Martin Kogi and Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2012

Supported by Nordea-fonden