Brothers In Arms II, The Sequel.
Posted by cathedralofshit on May 12, 2011
Good on the Lisson Gallery, Anish Kapoor, Patrick Brill and Mark Wallinger for highlighting Ai Wei Wei’s plight. It would possibly, however, also be an idea to highlight that Ai Wei Wei’s imprisonment is not some sort of one off as some of the reports mistakenly seem to imply. He is one of scores of activists who have been detained. Others include Li Xiongbing, the Beijing human rights lawyer who has been missing since last week and Zhang Jialing, a former journalist who covered the detention of Ai Weiwei and has ben missing since April 28th.And bloggers have also been banged up – for example Liang Haiyi and Ran Yunfei. China’s detention of Ai Wei Wei is, according to Amnesty Internaional’s Sam Zarifi, “part of a wider trend of repression of lawyers, writers and government critics” that seems to correlate to Chinese nerves over a repetition of the events of the Arab Spring happening in their back yard. Whilst somehave been released – such as the lawyers Tang Jitian and Jiang Tianyong, they have been warned not to talk about their time in their own incommunicado detentions. And their willingness to go along with these instructions suggests that these detentions were harrowing.
Another related point: will any of the galleries participating in Art Hong Kong, due to open later there this month, have a think about their presence there signifies? UK galleries slated to be there include Lisson, Simon Lee, Victoria Miro, Pilar Corrias and Sadie Coles whilst international galleries include Gavin Brown, Blum & Poe, Tanya Bonakdar, Chantal Crousel and Emmanuel Perrotin. Surely instead of museum’s shutting down for one day as Kapoor suggests, a refusal to hang works in their booths would be far more effective?
anon said
And what about all the artists who now knowingly have their toxic works manufactured in China where there’s fuck all attention (or money!) paid to the health and well-being of workers and their families. For example:http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=404
And Herzog & de Meuron’s failure to back up Ai Weiwei’s protest over the mistreatment of workers building the Beijing National Stadium (the ‘pretend smile’) that is already falling into disrepair. The hypocrisy of the Tate’s ‘Fee Ai Weiwei’….
To quote Ai Weiwei on Steven Spielberg: “It’s disgusting. I don’t like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment.”
WR said
Thought you might enjoy this article by Charlie Finch from last month
http://bit.ly/eBCzQH
HUO said
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/It%E2%80%99s+a+free+market%E2%80%94even+if+the+artist+isn%E2%80%99t/23769
Tuesday said
why participate at all? yeah the asian art market is strong but given the circumstances there should be a worldwide boycott. The minute the Chinese detained Ai Weiwei, they made him more powerful in the eyes of the world. There might be no way to silence him.
Fat Nick said
The Charlie Finch article linked above in the comments section is excellent
Ai Weiwei’s Wife Finally Allowed Visit, While the Artist’s Dealers Weigh Art HK Participation (ARTINFO) | Yahoo Press Release said
[...] the name Cathedral of Shit has influenced adult a ruckus, calling on UK galleries not to attend in Art HK, the Hong [...]
Ai Weiwei’s Wife Finally Allowed Visit, While the Artist’s Dealers Weigh Art HK Participation (ARTINFO) | searchnews.us said
[...] British blogger who writes underneath a name Cathedral of Shit has influenced adult a ruckus, calling on UK galleries not to attend in Art HK, a Hong Kong art satisfactory that opens May 26, as a matter [...]
Hobby Rigger said
Unfortunately most of the artists highlighting the issues around art HK have harnessed the situation for their own self promotion haven’t they bob and roberta!