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Ai Wei Wei's Beijing Studio Destroyed by Chinese Authorities

130 points by gscott 8y ago

Proven 8y ago
It looks like there's a surplus of fine art in China which had to be destroyed. Civilizations are created by individuals and destroyed by governments.
shawnz 8y ago
Misleading, IMO: > The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, and that Ai had "been expecting to leave the studio soon." Sure, maybe they wouldn't have abruptly torn it down if he was still in their favour, but they're also not obligated to let him have that workspace for free.
- Areading314 8y ago
  Agreed
- colordrops 8y ago
  He's a great artist and is fighting the good fight but the US propaganda machine will twist every little story to make it look like he's being crucified by the Chinese government.
  - eloff 8y ago
    US propaganda machine - in a story on China, the king of propaganda. The irony is thick. There's no central spin on US media. Certainly trump would love to have that power, because the media is endlessly critical of him. China on the other hand has a very well developed central propaganda machine.
    - DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
      It sounds like you're arguing that because China has extensive propaganda operations, it follows that the U.S. doesn't, or that they're ineffective, or irrelevant? It would be helpful if you could clarify your point and your argument.
      - barrkel 8y ago
        Eloff appears to think that propaganda needs to be centrally directed by the government for it to count.
    - barrkel 8y ago
      Make no mistake, the US continually pumps out propaganda. The Establishment position is generally reflected in most cultural output, and if your output doesn't conform, a lot of angry people will come after you, just like they're gunning for Alex Jones. I don't disagree much with American Establishment propaganda, but to deny the bias in almost all cultural output is foolish. And yes, Trump is a victim of Establishment propaganda. He deserves it most of the time, but the times he doesn't are what gives his followers the oxygen to shout fake news alongside him.
      - barrkel 8y ago
        I don't normally comment on downvotes, but the downvotes are actually evidence of orthodox view policing, proving my point! :)
    - colordrops 8y ago
      It's not a secret or a conspiracy that the US puts out propaganda. What does China's propaganda have to do with my comment? You are changing the subject.
  - gscott 8y ago
    This on is a good story too. Chinese agents rush into your house, take your coffin and destroy it. No propaganda just reality fror the Chinese. https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/coffins-destroyed-china-search-solution-burying-million-bodies/story%3fid=56958117 https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Internationa...
- mtalantikite 8y ago
  I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. I’d be pretty upset if my landlord showed up one day and just bulldozed the apartment with me still in it. Maybe he was planning it as a political act, a performance piece of sorts. Regardless, I still don’t think having an expired lease should be met with a destroyed workspace.
  - nordsieck 8y ago
    >>> The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, > I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. The reason that works in NYC is because by law rental contracts that expire (without specific language to the contrary) become month to month leases. That may or may not be the case in China.
  - oh_sigh 8y ago
    Have you considered the rights of the landlord? From the video, it looks like a single large "studio"(aka multi-thousand meter-squared building for one person), and not a multi-tenant dwelling like one might expect in SF, NYC, or BJ/京. Imagine the landlord wants to sell the property to a large property developer, one who may want to place 100+ units on your previously single unit rental. Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out?
    - dis-sys 8y ago
      > Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out? Of course he can - he is an activist, he doesn't need a rental agreement or title of land, he owns the place where he wants, he is an activist! as clearly stated by the article, the lease expired last fall, almost 1 year after the expiration of the lease, he just have too much stuff stored in that place, how that is not a strong enough reason to keep staying there? why the landlord can't just give him another 3-5 years rent free period so he can slowly move his stuff as he want? He is an activity against the Chinese government, he is entitled to do/own anything he wants. You are brainwashed if you don't agree with that.
- crazygringo 8y ago
  Indeed. From NPR: > One of Ai's assistants, Gang Ra, told the AFP new agency that the rental contract for the building had ended last year but that it "simply wasn't possible" to move out at the time because of the amount of works still present. > He said that they had been told that the move would need to take place within a matter of days, but added that they had not been warned when the demolition would begin. As much as I love his work, agreed this sounds like a non-story. He's a tenant who refused to leave for at least 7 months and the landlord had other plans for the property. If Ai had been the owner and his building were demolished without warning, that would be completely different... but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.
dosy 8y ago
I think there's a healthy symbiosis between light "state harassment" of Ai and Ai's notoriety as a dissident. Ai has been told by the security service that his existence is very important to the state. I think this is because his existence / story demonstrates two things: the state does express its disagreement and can detain / punish, the state allows provides an environment open to criticism and does allow people to express themselves. Ai is high profile and so the allowance of continued activity of a high profile dissident by a state which is in many cases criticized as getting rid of critics is an important counter narrative that the state wants, I believe. But I think it's more than that also. Ai is very Chinese and represents something very Chinese: a native cultural ideal, a person who is globally recognized as excelling in his field. His work is not just critical of his homeland, it comments on control in many places. So I think Ai's case, on the whole, functions more as positive rather than negative propaganda for China. One further and more controversial point I'll make is that Ai is in the same business as Chinese PR, shaping / playing with perceptions. I think Ai has realized for a long time that art coupled with subtly sensational criticism of his homeland gets him more traction in the global art scene, than just art. This is another aspect to the symbiosis. Ai's criticism of China, permitted by China, also gives China a larger profile in the cultural world through Ai. I admire the cleverness of these instances where the Chinese use Western cultural biases against us cleverly for their own benefit. Meaning that often in the West people are looking to fill in a narrative about the Chinese state being bad, and Ai, by supplying that demand in a satisfying way for us, enhances his career, and actually, I believe, subtly promotes / enhances China's image, using the very narrative demand the West has against the West's intention with it. In other words, the West, by elevating Ai, also elevates China, probably against their intent to do so, and precisely because, I believe, China knows how the play the demand for narrative bias to its advantage. But even if people in Western civil society organizations understand this, what choice do they have? They want to promote a certain set of values, so they have to use Ai as a persona. So Ai's existence is probably a win-win for all, rather than just the seeming clear win for the anti-China camp that his dissident status on the surface suggests. There's probably instances of the West using this kind of "appetite for bias" to its own advantage as well but I have not reflected as much about it.
- gcb0 8y ago
  so true. there are people prosecuted there in much worse ways, but in the international press we only hear about Ai or the HK folks with the subversive bookstore that every already forgot by now. the folks doing real activism continue to disappear in silence. often drowned in the religious charlatans noise that I will not even name here.
LiweiZ 8y ago
Ai always gets attention from inside the country and he has been there for a long time. Waves of such people left or disappeared in public's view. He's still there. Someone can stay and do a lot of opposing things and get and be able to keep constant public attentions is like a miracle. Why he? Why not others like him? He's like collecting those badges every time the government did something to him. And he's doing good and better. If you know China and know what people act like him could have faced, he is such an odd spot. I know westerners like him, giving him a lot of high quality badges. He has a quite rooted network to keep him safe and do a lot of fancy things delivered to public and shows this off. All sides seem to need him. Sorry for the rant. As a Chinese, I just hate those people with very special privilege to show off in the name of some symbol impressing outsiders and has nothing to do with all those truly matter.
- gscott 8y ago
  He has spent time in jail. He seems like a hero to me.
  - LiweiZ 8y ago
    And he got back to be in the view of the public proudly. He did ok in the jail. Jail time became another shining badge. Do you know those reports in China regarding serious food quality issues over the past two decades? If you do, do you know how the first reporters for those news ended up? China for me is not just a symbol. So I want to give out another angle many are not aware of.
    - singularity2001 8y ago
      Reporting so openly and courageously, you must be living outside China?
      - LiweiZ 8y ago
        You mean the reporters I memtioned? No, they are/were all in China.
- 8y ago
a-dub 8y ago
So I guess this is what gentrification looks like in China. Wow.

130 points by gscott 8y ago

It looks like there's a surplus of fine art in China which had to be destroyed. Civilizations are created by individuals and destroyed by governments.

shawnz 8y ago

Misleading, IMO: > The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, and that Ai had "been expecting to leave the studio soon." Sure, maybe they wouldn't have abruptly torn it down if he was still in their favour, but they're also not obligated to let him have that workspace for free.

Areading314 8y ago
Agreed
colordrops 8y ago
He's a great artist and is fighting the good fight but the US propaganda machine will twist every little story to make it look like he's being crucified by the Chinese government.
- eloff 8y ago
  US propaganda machine - in a story on China, the king of propaganda. The irony is thick. There's no central spin on US media. Certainly trump would love to have that power, because the media is endlessly critical of him. China on the other hand has a very well developed central propaganda machine.
  - DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
    It sounds like you're arguing that because China has extensive propaganda operations, it follows that the U.S. doesn't, or that they're ineffective, or irrelevant? It would be helpful if you could clarify your point and your argument.
    - barrkel 8y ago
      Eloff appears to think that propaganda needs to be centrally directed by the government for it to count.
  - barrkel 8y ago
    Make no mistake, the US continually pumps out propaganda. The Establishment position is generally reflected in most cultural output, and if your output doesn't conform, a lot of angry people will come after you, just like they're gunning for Alex Jones. I don't disagree much with American Establishment propaganda, but to deny the bias in almost all cultural output is foolish. And yes, Trump is a victim of Establishment propaganda. He deserves it most of the time, but the times he doesn't are what gives his followers the oxygen to shout fake news alongside him.
    - barrkel 8y ago
      I don't normally comment on downvotes, but the downvotes are actually evidence of orthodox view policing, proving my point! :)
  - colordrops 8y ago
    It's not a secret or a conspiracy that the US puts out propaganda. What does China's propaganda have to do with my comment? You are changing the subject.
- gscott 8y ago
  This on is a good story too. Chinese agents rush into your house, take your coffin and destroy it. No propaganda just reality fror the Chinese. https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/coffins-destroyed-china-search-solution-burying-million-bodies/story%3fid=56958117 https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Internationa...
mtalantikite 8y ago
I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. I’d be pretty upset if my landlord showed up one day and just bulldozed the apartment with me still in it. Maybe he was planning it as a political act, a performance piece of sorts. Regardless, I still don’t think having an expired lease should be met with a destroyed workspace.
- nordsieck 8y ago
  >>> The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, > I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. The reason that works in NYC is because by law rental contracts that expire (without specific language to the contrary) become month to month leases. That may or may not be the case in China.
- oh_sigh 8y ago
  Have you considered the rights of the landlord? From the video, it looks like a single large "studio"(aka multi-thousand meter-squared building for one person), and not a multi-tenant dwelling like one might expect in SF, NYC, or BJ/京. Imagine the landlord wants to sell the property to a large property developer, one who may want to place 100+ units on your previously single unit rental. Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out?
  - dis-sys 8y ago
    > Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out? Of course he can - he is an activist, he doesn't need a rental agreement or title of land, he owns the place where he wants, he is an activist! as clearly stated by the article, the lease expired last fall, almost 1 year after the expiration of the lease, he just have too much stuff stored in that place, how that is not a strong enough reason to keep staying there? why the landlord can't just give him another 3-5 years rent free period so he can slowly move his stuff as he want? He is an activity against the Chinese government, he is entitled to do/own anything he wants. You are brainwashed if you don't agree with that.
crazygringo 8y ago
Indeed. From NPR: > One of Ai's assistants, Gang Ra, told the AFP new agency that the rental contract for the building had ended last year but that it "simply wasn't possible" to move out at the time because of the amount of works still present. > He said that they had been told that the move would need to take place within a matter of days, but added that they had not been warned when the demolition would begin. As much as I love his work, agreed this sounds like a non-story. He's a tenant who refused to leave for at least 7 months and the landlord had other plans for the property. If Ai had been the owner and his building were demolished without warning, that would be completely different... but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

dosy 8y ago

I think there's a healthy symbiosis between light "state harassment" of Ai and Ai's notoriety as a dissident. Ai has been told by the security service that his existence is very important to the state. I think this is because his existence / story demonstrates two things: the state does express its disagreement and can detain / punish, the state allows provides an environment open to criticism and does allow people to express themselves. Ai is high profile and so the allowance of continued activity of a high profile dissident by a state which is in many cases criticized as getting rid of critics is an important counter narrative that the state wants, I believe. But I think it's more than that also. Ai is very Chinese and represents something very Chinese: a native cultural ideal, a person who is globally recognized as excelling in his field. His work is not just critical of his homeland, it comments on control in many places. So I think Ai's case, on the whole, functions more as positive rather than negative propaganda for China. One further and more controversial point I'll make is that Ai is in the same business as Chinese PR, shaping / playing with perceptions. I think Ai has realized for a long time that art coupled with subtly sensational criticism of his homeland gets him more traction in the global art scene, than just art. This is another aspect to the symbiosis. Ai's criticism of China, permitted by China, also gives China a larger profile in the cultural world through Ai. I admire the cleverness of these instances where the Chinese use Western cultural biases against us cleverly for their own benefit. Meaning that often in the West people are looking to fill in a narrative about the Chinese state being bad, and Ai, by supplying that demand in a satisfying way for us, enhances his career, and actually, I believe, subtly promotes / enhances China's image, using the very narrative demand the West has against the West's intention with it. In other words, the West, by elevating Ai, also elevates China, probably against their intent to do so, and precisely because, I believe, China knows how the play the demand for narrative bias to its advantage. But even if people in Western civil society organizations understand this, what choice do they have? They want to promote a certain set of values, so they have to use Ai as a persona. So Ai's existence is probably a win-win for all, rather than just the seeming clear win for the anti-China camp that his dissident status on the surface suggests. There's probably instances of the West using this kind of "appetite for bias" to its own advantage as well but I have not reflected as much about it.

gcb0 8y ago
so true. there are people prosecuted there in much worse ways, but in the international press we only hear about Ai or the HK folks with the subversive bookstore that every already forgot by now. the folks doing real activism continue to disappear in silence. often drowned in the religious charlatans noise that I will not even name here.

LiweiZ 8y ago

Ai always gets attention from inside the country and he has been there for a long time. Waves of such people left or disappeared in public's view. He's still there. Someone can stay and do a lot of opposing things and get and be able to keep constant public attentions is like a miracle. Why he? Why not others like him? He's like collecting those badges every time the government did something to him. And he's doing good and better. If you know China and know what people act like him could have faced, he is such an odd spot. I know westerners like him, giving him a lot of high quality badges. He has a quite rooted network to keep him safe and do a lot of fancy things delivered to public and shows this off. All sides seem to need him. Sorry for the rant. As a Chinese, I just hate those people with very special privilege to show off in the name of some symbol impressing outsiders and has nothing to do with all those truly matter.

gscott 8y ago
He has spent time in jail. He seems like a hero to me.
- LiweiZ 8y ago
  And he got back to be in the view of the public proudly. He did ok in the jail. Jail time became another shining badge. Do you know those reports in China regarding serious food quality issues over the past two decades? If you do, do you know how the first reporters for those news ended up? China for me is not just a symbol. So I want to give out another angle many are not aware of.
  - singularity2001 8y ago
    Reporting so openly and courageously, you must be living outside China?
    - LiweiZ 8y ago
      You mean the reporters I memtioned? No, they are/were all in China.
8y ago

a-dub 8y ago

So I guess this is what gentrification looks like in China. Wow.