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Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian and activist. His new exhibition, Ai vs AI, is part of CIRCA 20:24 (11 January until 31 March 2024) on Piccadilly Lights, London

January 2024

  • BESTPIX: Ai Vs AI - Chinese Artist Ai Wei Wei Reveals New Installation In Piccadilly Circus<br>LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 11: Artist Ai Wei Wei films himself as the first of 81 nightly presentations is displayed on a screen at Piccadilly Circus on January 11, 2024 in London, England. Over 81 days – the length of time Ai Wei Wei was detained in a Chinese prison – the artist will pose 81 questions addressed to artificial intelligence (AI) and the wider public. Appearing every evening at 20:24 GMT on Piccadilly Lights, each question carefully considers the role of humankind's minds and actions in a fast-changing world, amid accelerating global crises and the rise of new technologies. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

    Take in a sunset, a snowstorm or a baby’s cry, and see why AI is no threat to art

    Ai Weiwei
    Technology is no match for the human will, with all its potential for creativity and the possibility of making mistakes, says artist and activist Ai Weiwei

December 2022

  • Turandot at Teatro dell’Opera, Rome, March 2022. For use with Ai Weiwei's Snapshot of 2022 opinion article. WhatsApp Image 2022-11-14 at 11.00.07 AM

    Snapshot of 2022
    Did I know anything about putting on an opera? No, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me

    Ai Weiwei
    In 1987 I was an extra in Turandot, alongside operatic legends – little did I know I’d be directing the show 35 years later, says artist Ai Weiwei

March 2022

  • A freight train leaves Khorgos, on the border of China and Kazakhstan, October 2017

    Ai Weiwei on the new Silk Road: ‘This is China’s counterattack in a global game of chess’

    China is pouring trillions into the developing world. It is, the artist and activist says, an audacious power grab

October 2021

  • Diane Weyermann with Ai Weiwei

    Ai Weiwei on the death of Diane Weyermann: ‘Like a bridge of hope washed away in the storm’

    The artist and film-maker remembers the pioneering documentary producer behind films such as RBG, The Square and An Inconvenient Truth, who has died aged 66

August 2020

  • Trump and Xi

    Think 'sanctions' will trouble China? Then you're stuck in the politics of the past

    Ai Weiwei
    The complex history of how China and the US once embraced each other should inform how the current showdown is tackled, says artist and activist Ai Weiwei

March 2020

  • Coronavirus testing in Wuhan last week.

    China is ill, but it goes much deeper than the coronavirus

    Ai Weiwei
    Mistrust is a contagion the regime is struggling to control, says artist and activist Ai Weiwei

June 2019

  • Tiananmen Square, 4 June 1989

    The west is complicit in the 30-year cover-up of Tiananmen

    Ai Weiwei
    The Chinese government’s continued whitewashing cannot expunge our memories of what happened, says artist and political activist Ai Weiwei

May 2019

  • Soleil Levant, 2017 (installation view at Kunsthal Charlottenborg)

    My art was used to sell cars – but I’m fighting back

    Ai Weiwei
    An advert for Volkswagens that featured my artwork about refugees illustrates corporations’ focus on profit over people, says artist Ai Weiwei

January 2019

  • Footprint of a Rohingya refugee at a camp in Bangladesh, 2018.

    Human dignity is in danger. In 2019 we must stand as one to survive

    Ai Weiwei
    Persecution, censorship and environmental destruction are on the rise – but resistance is possible, says artist and activist Ai Weiwei

February 2018

  • Remembering … photographs of missing children in the rubble after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

    Ai Weiwei: The artwork that made me the most dangerous person in China

  • Illustration by Ben Jennings.

    The refugee crisis isn’t about refugees. It’s about us

    Ai Weiwei

September 2015

  • Ai Weiwei's sock puppets.

    Do Something creative
    Make an Ai Weiwei sock puppet

    The artist’s handmade ‘caonimas’ are a symbol of defiance against censorship in China – show solidarity by sewing your own

June 2013

  • Hong Kong front pages 11 June 2013

    NSA surveillance: the US is behaving like China

    Ai Weiwei

    Ai Weiwei: Both governments think they are doing what is best for the state and people. But, as I know, such abuse of power can ruin lives

April 2013

  • Chairman Mao Andy Warhol print

    Ai Weiwei: 'Every day in China, we put the state on trial'

    Ai Weiwei for Creative Time Reports

    Ai Weiwei for Creative Time Reports: We can't rely on state-owned media to fight for free speech. It is up to us citizens to use the internet to bring change to China

December 2012

  • Artists' Christmas screensavers
    Ai Weiwei's Christmas screensaver: let his Door Gods protect your home

    Ai Weiwei says: 'Each Chinese New Year, I ­create a different poster of the gods for ­netizens to download and post on their doors. I would like to share this with Guardian readers'

September 2012

  • .

    Ai Weiwei: 'China's art world does not exist'

    Ai Weiwei: a new London exhibition is putting the spotlight on contemporary art in China. I take issue with the whole notion

July 2012

  • The 2012 London Olympic Games, Opening Ceremony, Britain - 27 Jul 2012

    Olympic opening ceremony: Ai Weiwei's review

  • Police stop the media from filming after a Pro-Tibet demo near the Beijing national stadium

    Ai Weiwei: China excluded its people from the Olympics. London is different

    Ai Weiwei

June 2012

  • Chinese artist Ai Weiwei holds a copy of

    Ai Weiwei: to live your life in fear is worse than losing your freedom

    Ai Weiwei
    Ai Weiwei: A year after my release, I am more convinced than ever of the need to stand up to China's monstrous machine

April 2012

  • Andrzej Krauze Ai Weiwei illustration

    liberty central
    China's censorship can never defeat the internet

    Ai Weiwei

    Ai Weiwei: It is interesting to pick one's way through the obstacles of censorship, but freedom can't be stopped in the internet age

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