Ai Weiwei Research Paper

Since Ai Weiwei’s birth in 1957, his complete life story has sculpted him into the profound artist and social activist that he is today. After his father, a well known poet, was exiled during the anti-rightist campaign, Ai spent his first years in a labor camp. The circumstances of his childhood instilled a voice inside of Ai that would later invigorate his art. Ai explains the conditions of his children as having “no personal rights, no freedom of speech or expression” (Weiwei, 2008). Ai came to the conclusion that these conditions made it impossible for individuals to develop a self-conscious and awareness of esthetic values. Thus, while in search of expressive freedom, Ai later moved to Manhattan at the age of 24 where he was introduced …show more content…
For example, after an earthquake hit the Suchuan Province in 2008, killing more than 5,000 children in the collapses of schools, Weiwei was greatly moved to investigate the fatalities after the government refused to release the death toll and investigate the building’s failures. Weiwei formed a Citizen’s Investigation with ordinary Chinese volunteers to examine the rummage and seek the information of the deceased children. The studies found cheap concrete was used to the build the schools, therefore the walls crumbled easily; also, the buildings lacked necessary support and steel rods were randomly placed without any known function. Weiwei associated the building’s lack of support with the death of the students which led him to create “Straight” (2008-2012)—a minimalist floor piece made of the metal rods that were found amongst the rummage of the collapsed schools. Serving as a memorial for the children who died in the crash, Straight is also a reflection of the Chinese government’s priority of immediate change instead of concern for its …show more content…
Ai and the Citizens Investigation gathered over 200 tons of twisted steel bar and tediously knocked each bar straight, hammer by hammer. Christine Murray writes that “the straightening of the rebar is like the process of Ai’s research into the tragedy itself—an attempt to set the record straight, one hammer strike at a time.” It is also an ironic demonstration of the slow progress needed to construct something valuable—a concept that China’s government blindly ignores. Murray also writes that Ai’s architecture is “fundamentally a political act, and what and how we build (also what we save and demolish) is a powerful determinist force. Notions such as identity, values, and history are not just concepts, but tangibles that can be constructed or destroyed” (Murray). The concepts Ai was creating infuriated the Chinese authorities which led to his incarceration for 81 days in 2011. However, the government did not realize the extent of Ai’s influence, for his dreams were not destroyed with his absence; instead the volunteers continued to straighten each