Image via Complex Original
With a life as transparently lived as that of Ai Weiwei—the artist who began making international waves through his innovative use of social media around 2006, via the Chinese Sina Weibo network—it’s hard to keep anything a secret from the public. Or rather, he doesn’t even really keep secrets. Ai has been very vocal about everything just short of his bowel movements since the Chinese government began considering him a threat to national security sometime in the early 2000s. So we decided to challenge ourselves a little bit: what don’t we know about Ai Weiwei? That was our mission here, as we celebrate the 8th anniversary of his first blog post today. Here are 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Ai Wewei.
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20. He doesn't consider himself a "Chinese artist."
Ai Weiwei is an ardent navigator of identity politics without considering his condition in the canon of Chinese artists. As he told The Believer's Claudine Ko: "To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary. Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you. But personally, I don't think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it's beyond my own consciousness."
19. He returned to China on his father's dying request.
It's a well-known fact that Ai returned to China in 1995 because his father was sick, bound to a wheelchair. But it was one of the last things that Ai Qing said to Weiwei that kept him in his native land. In a 2010 BBC documentary, Without Fear or Favour, Weiwei explains how as one of his last requests, his father told him he should consider China as his home. This was not an indicator of reverence to Ai. It meant he should feel comfortable there, and that he should do whatever he liked in China. The implication was to spend his time in China as he saw fit, rather than in fear or apprehension.
18. He breaks more than Han Dynasty vases.
Ai is renowned for taking destructive and adaptive approaches to Neolithic Han vases, themselves valuable pieces of cultural significance. But in Without Fear or Favour, he pushes over massive ceramic pots made at his own behest. He does this "to keep up some kind of standard" in his own work, he explains, as a kind of self-control.
17. The Beijing Olympic Stadium he designed was modeled after a toilet seat.
Though it's nickname quickly became "The Bird's Nest" for its thatched and interwoven overlay, Ai Weiwei has been quite vocal about his original inspiration for the design of the pavilion: a toilet seat. Once you see it, it can't be unseen.
16. His name is blocked across Sina Weibo, the Chinese social media site.
Because of China's massive censorship practices, any kind of dissidence or subversion is regarded as a crime against the state. For this reason, "Ai Weiwei" is a blocked search term on Sina Weibo, China's most popular social media site. When writing about the artist, users often use different combinations of his name, such as Ai W Wei or aiww, in an attempt to subvert the Chinese firewalls and to propagate their discussions.
15. There was a play about him this year.
The playwright Howard Brenton got together enough backing to produce the Mahpsteadn Theatre production #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei. As one would suspect, the production told the story of Ai's 2011 arrest and 81-day imprisonment. It was met with wild acclaim from many notable publications.
14. He contributed to a book by Hans-Ulrich Obrist to teach us how to disable surveillance cameras.
Did you know a wine-bottle corkscrew is an integral part of an ad-hoc surveillance disabler? Neither did we until we picked up a copy of the Obrist-curated book called Do It: The Compendium. It's a collection of famous artists telling us how to make simple yet useful constructions from everyday things. In the case of Ai, a little rope, a can of spray paint, the aforementioned corkscrew, and a little balance will do the trick.
13. Though friends with the late poet, he never read Allen Ginsberg's work.
In the BBC documentary, Without Fear or Favour, curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist mentions the importance of poetry to Ai's New York existence—Allen Ginsberg and Ai made fast friends during the '80s and '90s. But, as the artist told The Believer in a 2007 interview, he never even cracked the spine of Howl. "I never really read his poetry," Ai said, "even though I have a book he gave me. I liked the cover and I admire that he wrote so much. But I never really read it."
12. He's one of the worst barbers in the world.
If you follow Ai Weiwei on Instagram—this one makes some sense—he's often posting pictures of people with very unorthodox haircuts. This is part of his recent practice. That is to say, giving people horrible haircuts is part of his recent practice. When blogger Anthony Tao wrote about getting a haircut from Weiwei earlier this year, he asked Ai what kind it was going to be. "The kind that will make you want to cry," was the artist's response.
11. Elton John dedicated a show to him, causing a concert crackdown in China.
In November 2012, the Rocket Man was onstage in Beijing when he decided to give a dedication to Ai before the only concert he'd ever played in the Chinese capitol. The show was given over "to the spirit and talent of Ai Weiwei," he said before the performance, according to The Guardian. This seemingly innocuous dedication infuriated Chinese officials. Within weeks, Chinese culture minister Cai Wu was coming up with ways to broaden restrictions on foreign artists performing in China. This included a dictum that only those with university degrees would be allowed to perform in the country
10. He could give a shit what his work sells for.
One of Ai Weiwei's closest followers, Evan Osnos, has described the artist in a 2010 BBC documentary as "not a very good business man." But, in the same breath, describes how Weiwei pours every cent he has back into his work and how the art market can't be a barometer for the workings of Weiwei's art. Ai Weiwei himself has expressed similar disinterest in the market value of his work. "To give a price to an artwork," he told The Believer in 2007, "no matter how high or low, is always absurd. It's not something that can be measured by money or by certain numbers. Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market. I don't think it reflects if the work is good or bad. A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that."
9. He spent his youth in desert exile.
Ai Wewei and his family were exiled to the edge of the Gobi Desert in 1958, when he was just one year old; his father, the painter and prominent poet Ai Qing, was purged during the eradication of intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution. This is where Ai learned much of his craftsmanship—the family literally lived underground, constructing their home in a hole and creating their own bricks from the land. Ai Weiwei built his own bookshelves as a child, even as his father was burning all his books in exile. They were allowed to return to society in 1979.
8. His dad was a close follower of Mao Zedong.
Perhaps this is why Ai has said time and again that he doesn't think his parents influenced him very much. According to a brief obituary in the New York Times, his father "sided with the Communists in the civil war, joined Mao Zedong in his mountain-cave headquarters and followed Mao's troops into Beijing in 1949 when the Communists took power."
7. There's an asteroid named after him.
That is correct. There is a celestial body named after Ai. Its technical name is 83598 Aiweiwei. The minor-planet-sized asteroid is in the main asteroid belt and was discovered on September 25, 2001.
6. He helped design a pavilion for Serpentine Galleries.
Though his most famous architectural work is arguably the Bird's Nest Pavilion, constructed for the 2008 Olympic games, one of his most exquisite constructions was the architectural pavilion that was built last year at London's renowned Serpentine Galleries. He teamed up with architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, completing the team that did the Beijing National Stadium, for an exquisite space in the complex.
5. He never used a computer before 2005.
Although his indelible presence on the Internet and social media leads one to believe Ai is so adept at using computers that he must have been an early adopter of the technology. This was not so: it was revealed in the book Ai Weiwei's Blog: Writings Interviews and Digital Rants, 2006-2009 that his first sit-down with one of the machines was in 2005. Since then, he's been a nonstop digital force and this has arguably led to his continued presence and safety in the global sphere—if Weiwei isn't tweeting, there's something wrong.
4. There were 4 real sunflower seeds in the 100 million porcelain ones of his Tate Modern exhibition.
During the exhibition of his Sunflower Seeds piece, which consisted of 100 Million handmade and painted porcelain sunflower seeds, a conceptual art group called IOCOSE added four actual sunflower seeds to the artwork. Four IOCOSE members bought a cheap bag of sunflower seeds at a nearby shop, went to the balcony overlooking Ai's sunflower seeds in the Turbine Hall of the museum. They then launched one seed each into the bed of millions using slingshots. Directly following, they modified the signs in the hall and renamed the piece to "IOCOSE's Sunflower Seeds on Sunflower Seeds." The new artwork was indistinguishable from the previous artwork, reemphasizing something Ai himself said: "What you see is not what you see, and what you see is not what it means."
3. He recently sued the Chinese government.
In a case relating to allegations that his company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development, evaded taxes, Ai sued the Chinese government in April 2012 for withholding evidence in the case. "In the handling of the whole process for Fake, some of their actions were illegal and violated regulations," Ai told Reuters.
2. He loves cats.
Ai Weiwei loves cats. A lot. According to Art Matters, he lives with around 40 feline friendlies at his Beijing home and studio. His Instagram feed is a deep repository for images of his animals. Though his affection of cats is slightly glossed over in the film, Alison Klayman's 2012 documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry opens with the artist pondering the mystical wisdom of the animal. "Out of the 40 cats, one knows how to open doors. If I'd never met this cat that can open doors, I wouldn't know cats can open doors." He goes on to say that the main difference between cats and humans is that a cat never closes a door behind itself.
1. He rules at blackjack.
When Ai Weiwei lived in New York, between 1983 and 1995, he spent much of his time going back and forth to Atlantic City. After his arrest in 2011, one web poster on blackjackchamp.com name Snake Eyes described Ai's prowess with playing cards: "I came here to Atlantic City now to unwind a bit at the blackjack table. It was here I met him some 25 years ago. I was playing and losing bad, and then this Asian guy with a beard right out of the Kung Fu movies, playing next to me, starts telling me when to hit, split or stay. I don't listen to nobody but every time I don't listen to him, I lose the hand. So I start listening. I was up a few grand that night. I always listened when he explained smart strategies. He is the best." The Huffington Post reports that Ai and Snake Eyes travelled to Atlantic City with one another a couple times a week to play.
