Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei (b. 1957‑08‑28 in Beijing, China) emerged from a childhood marked by political persecution, as his poet father Ai Qing was denounced during the Anti‑Rightist Movement and the family was exiled to a labour camp in Heilongjiang when Ai was only one year old. The harsh conditions of the far northwest left an indelible imprint on his worldview, a theme that resurfaces in his later installations that juxtapose personal trauma with collective memory. After the Cultural Revolution ended, the family returned to Beijing in 1976 and Ai enrolled at the Beijing Film Academy to study animation, quickly co‑founding the avant‑garde “Stars” collective in 1978, which launched his lifelong commitment to experimental art. From 1981 to 1993 he lived in the United States, absorbing influences from Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and forging friendships with figures such as poet Allen Ginsberg, experiences that broadened his conceptual vocabulary. Upon returning to China in 1993 he helped create the Beijing East Village art scene, founded the FAKE Design studio in 2003, and collaborated with architects Herzog & de Monument on the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, while simultaneously producing provocative works like Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn and the monumental Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern.\n\nAi’s career is inseparable from his activism; he has relentlessly exposed government corruption, most famously leading a citizens’ investigation into the 2008 Sichuan earthquake school collapses, publishing thousands of victims’ names despite official censorship. His public criticism of authoritarian policies led to a high‑profile arrest at Beijing Capital Airport in 2011, a 81‑day detention, and continuous surveillance, events that inspired powerful pieces such as S.A.C.R.E.D. and Man in a Cube. After his 2015 passport was returned, Ai established studios in Berlin, Cambridge and Montemor‑o‑Novo, Portugal, while continuing to create socially resonant works—Law of the Journey (a 230‑foot inflatable refugee boat), Trace (portraits of political prisoners), and Middle Finger in Pink, a recent pop‑culture statement. Married to artist Lu Qing, he is the father of a son born in 2009, and remains a vocal advocate for human rights, freedom of expression, and the transformative power of art worldwide.