A Dialogue with Ai Weiwei PDF

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An exercise under the context of the 2nd progression, Reckoning a controversy....

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Dana Zhu Dr. Anderson Writing The Essay, Progression #3 17 April 2019 A Dialogue with Ai Weiwei On a sunny day during the summer, I meet Ai Weiwei at his own studio at Caochangdi, Beijing. I have been to this place back in 2015 when I was an intern at a gallery nearby. But the gate was not open then. The studio looked like a prison cell with its shut entrance and monotone walls. I have since been curious about its interior, and now here I am, with the artist himself. This place is not his prison cell. On the contrary, it is his safety haven. It is the outside where he feels unsafe about. I walked inside, Ai closes the gate behind me. He enjoys keeping his world private. Unfinished pieces lies on the floor. “I’m still working on the big one for next month.” He says. That’s why I’m here to talk to him: we need to figure out how to curate his solo exhibit about rising feminism activities in China. I brought with me take-out from a nearby restaurant, I know how these artists can forget to eat when they’re devoted to their works. “Thanks. I don’t have a lot around here. Sometimes it feels like a labor camp when there’s no food…” he jokes. Intriguing, I learned that he used to live in a real labor camp during his childhood, because his father was a famous poet who was prosecuted during the Cultural Revolution. “But you did live in one, didn’t you?” I ask, carefully. His eyes dims. “Yeah. Maybe that wasn’t a good metaphor.”

I understand him. The labor camp repressed everything he had to say. Here, he releases everything. I suddenly have an idea. “Hey, how about we build something like that for the exhibit?” “Build what?” Ai seems perplexed. “A labor camp kind of atmosphere. With repression.” I try to explain myself. “This project is about feminism and liberation…” Ai muses over this idea, “but you’re right. This dire situation is repressing to say the least.” He is referring to the censoring of the word “feminism”, “MeToo” and “HeForShe” online. I’m glad he is considering my proposal. But he halted. “There’s a problem.” I start to worry. He continues, “It’s too direct. I’m never direct. You have to make them think, you know? To make them think about what they’re facing. Don't hand it to them that directly. That’s too simple. They would forget about what they feel the next day.” I agree with him. People always forget other’s ideas or feelings easily. Empathy is easily formulated but hardly remembered. Only if the audience generate the thoughts and feelings themselves, can they understand the message we’re trying to deliver. “What about in a subtler way?” I suggest. “You mean, a less claustrophobic way of portraying a labor camp? What’s your idea?” “A ‘no talking’ sign on the wall.” I tell him. “I remember those. My father wan’t allowed to talk in the labor camp. I wasn’t allowed to talk about my thoughts or experiences under the government.” Ai frowns. “And now feminists are not allowed to talk about their pursuit online. Sounds familiar right?”

“Let’s do it.” I’m happy, and excited. Ai grabs the food I brought for us. And sat by the table in the little yard he has. “Let’s eat.” His bike catches my attention, when I’m eating my fried rice. There’s a bouquet of flowers in the basket attached to his bike. The same bike that he used in a project to document his travel ban, which is now completed. I thought he stopped to put flowers there/ But he’s still celebrating freedom. Even when nobody can see. I think Ai noticed the way I look at the bike. He stands up. “It’s good to speak freely, isn’t it?” Yes, it is....