Dissident’s show opens . . . but Ai Weiwei is Absent

AN EXHIBITION focusing on the political significance of the inability of outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s to attend it launches in Taiwan today.

The show, entitled Ai Weiwei, Absent, is running at Taipei’s Fine Arts Museum.

In a pamphlet for the show, Ai writes that his absence “is a part of my art, my portfolio and my cultural state”.

Ai was detained in April during a sweeping Chinese crackdown on activists.

His detention sparked an international outcry over the country’s deteriorating human rights situation. He was released in June, but he is prohibited from leaving Beijing.

The Taiwanese show of 21 works includes photographs and 12 outsize bronze heads representing the Chinese zodiac.

A new piece consists of 1,000 bicycles piled in layers, reflecting his perception of the rapid pace of Chinese social change.