Ai Weiwei

An exploration of 21st-century multidisciplinary creative mastermind, Ai Weiwei, his outsize public persona and outspoken world views.

First Published in

Phaidon
Phaidon

If, as in Ai Weiwei’s words, “creativity is the power to act”, one should never underestimate the courage that underscores action. A truly 21st-century multidisciplinary creative mastermind with an outsize public persona and outspoken world views, Weiwei has never quite fitted into either his communist motherland, China, nor the land of freedom where he was educated, the United States. As an artist, web blogger, architect, sculptor, publisher and curator, his body of work is an audacious blend of the new and the old, and often an interesting collision of East meeting West. Besides inspiring imagery of Weiwei’s work, the book also features results from Karen Smith’s research, an interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, an essay by Bernard Fibicher and English translations of Weiwei’s own writing.