Important Dates
Ai Weiwei designed the famous "Birds Nest" Olympic stadium for the 2008 Summer Olymic games in Beijing. He later regretted his work because instead of the venue becoming a place for all, it became a place for only the elite.
Ai was on his way to Hong Kong in April 2011 when he was taken into custody at Beijing's international airport and detained for 81 days amid a government crackdown on political activists.
Ai was on his way to Hong Kong in April 2011 when he was taken into custody at Beijing's international airport and detained for 81 days amid a government crackdown on political activists.
"Is it every okay to question authority?"
Many of Ai Weiwei's art works portray global issues, and some personal. He is not a political artist, rather he is an independent artist. His works named, "Snake Ceiling." As stated in an article on CNN, this display is made of hundreds of backpacks latched together in the shape of a snake. These are meant to represent children's backpacks left behind after the earthquake. Ai said he saw numerous piles of backpacks outside schools when he traveled to Sichuan following the disaster. This is an example of his communication of global issues. Some works take a personal tone, with pictures of Ai in the hospital recovering from a surgery relieving pressure on his brain due to a beating from chinese police. This is a prominent example highlighting his activism as well as the communication he portrays through his art work with China and the rest of the world. These examples show how being an activist might not solely be to rebel against the government, yet is allows freedom and opinion. To conclude, Weiwei questions authority through his art work. He expresses his opinions on the world as well as China which is what makes him an activist.
Relations To Antigone
Both Ai Weiwei and Antigone had disagreed with something that had been done or committed. Antigone had disagreed with Creon's law which forbidden her brother Polynices to be buried. Just as Antigone, Ai Weiwei had disagreed with the stadium he had built, saying it was only for the elite.
They are both similar in the way that they are activists, disobeying the law for what they seem to be more right.
Neither had gotten away with the crime they committed. Yet in a way, they had both succeeded their intentions of following their morals and rebelling for a broader cause.
Weiwei's art work had given people a different perspective of life, and that is through his eyes, his art. The reason for the government to take him into custody is because they are afraid of the influence he will have on the people of China.
The unlawful deed Antigone had committed communicated to the rest of the city that Creon's law of leaving her brother Polynices unburied, was opinionated and dissolute. Creon had sentenced Antigone to her death/exile because he thought she would be an influence on the people of Thebes. Yet, in the end when he found that his law had only brought distress and harm and not righteousness to the city, he himself had even disagreed with what he had done. Both were not doing any harm to home, they were only trying to show what was right.
They are both similar in the way that they are activists, disobeying the law for what they seem to be more right.
Neither had gotten away with the crime they committed. Yet in a way, they had both succeeded their intentions of following their morals and rebelling for a broader cause.
Weiwei's art work had given people a different perspective of life, and that is through his eyes, his art. The reason for the government to take him into custody is because they are afraid of the influence he will have on the people of China.
The unlawful deed Antigone had committed communicated to the rest of the city that Creon's law of leaving her brother Polynices unburied, was opinionated and dissolute. Creon had sentenced Antigone to her death/exile because he thought she would be an influence on the people of Thebes. Yet, in the end when he found that his law had only brought distress and harm and not righteousness to the city, he himself had even disagreed with what he had done. Both were not doing any harm to home, they were only trying to show what was right.