Speed of Life

Nemesis-Ai Weiwei: The Elusiveness of Being. By Geandy Pavon "The concept of the project is to impose the face of the victim on buildings walls that house government offices … The light on the wall is a symbol of revelation." -Geandy Pavon Provocative work by Cuban-American artist Geandy Pavon as he projects a billboard sized portrait of Ai Weiwei onto the Chinese consulate in New York City. More at: Geandy Pavon Website Video: Imprisoned Artist Ai Weiwei's Face Projected On Chinese Consulate

A Berlin Museum Calls for China to Free Ai Weiwei Last week, Salman Rushdie in the New York Times , wrote an important piece on the plight of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Excerpts below: "The great Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern, a former power station, is a notoriously difficult space for an artist to fill with authority. Its immensity can dwarf the imaginations of all but a select tribe of modern artists who understand the mysteries of scale, of how to say something interesting when you also have to say something really big. Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider once stood menacingly in this hall; Anish Kapoor’s “Marsyas,” a huge, hollow trumpet-like shape made of a stretched substance that hinted at flayed skin, triumphed over it majestically." Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei at the Tate Modern in London - October 2010 "Last October the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei covered the floor with his “Sunflower Seeds”: 100 million tiny porcelain objects, each handmade by a master craftsman,...

Ai Weiwei with musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou in the elevator when taken in custody by the police, Sichuan, China, August 2009 100 cm x 130 cm color photograph Courtesy Ai Weiwei and Christine König Galerie, Vienna “We can perhaps bet on art to win over tyrants. It is the world’s artists, particularly those courageous enough to stand up against authoritarianism, for whom we need to be concerned, and for whose safety we must fight.” - Salman Rushdie On April 3, 2011, the internationally recognized Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained by Chinese officials at the Beijing airport while en route to Hong Kong, and his papers and computers were seized from his studio compound. The international arts community has rallied around Ai Weiwei's unjust incarceration and an online petition is being sponsored by museum directors and cultural figures across the globe: 'By using Ai Weiwei’s favored medium of “social sculpture,” we hope to hasten the release of our visionary friend." Please ta...