81 Days in Captivity: Ai Weiwei: Reflections:

No critic has so publicly taunted the Communist Party as Ai Weiwei, even as security officers have employed a variety of tactics in a continuing campaign to cow him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/first-a-black-hood-then-81-captive-days-for-artist-in-china.html?hp

Never Sorry: Interview with Director Alison Klayman

Anna Bielak: You filmed for about two years. That is very long period of time. I wonder how many times you wanted to stop and why didn’t you?

Alison Klayman: To be honest, there was not a single moment that I really wanted to stop filming and the reason I finally did it was not because I lost interest in the subject. There is still so much to tell! However, in the middle of 2010 I felt like I already had so much footage that I should finally find the closing shot. The sunflower seeds exhibition seemed to be a good point. Still, there were so many backstories behind the ones I focused on, that resigning from them was a really tough decision. I wanted to explain to the viewers a little bit about Ai Weiwei’s art, a bit about his activism and family life… So many things were all around me – waiting to be seen. Ironically, just a month after I stopped shooting and started working with my editor, Ai Weiwei’s art studio in Shaghai had been smashed up. I left New York and stopped the post-production process and went back to China once more. Now I feel like the film has been in a constant state of change.

http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/alison-klayman-ai-weiwei-never-sorry-interview/

Ai Weiwei - What is a Dissident?

“I don’t see myself as a dissident artist. I see them as a dissident government!”

Ai Weiwei 

Take a Stand: Free Expression

Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.”

— Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Twitter, December 22, 2011

Tate Buys 8 millions works of art by Ai Weiwei

The Tate Modern in London announced on Monday that it had purchased one of Ai Weiwei’s famous installations of life-size, hand-painted porcelain “Sunflower Seeds.” It bought 8 million of the 100 million seeds that were on view in a giant installation at the museum a year and a half ago. The mini-version was bought directly from the artist, officials at the Tate said, and the remaining 92 million seeds have been returned to Mr. Ai.