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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/apr/03/ai-weiwei-interview-peace-portugal-chinese-might-western-jealousy-design>
"It is a warm, clear spring morning and Ai Weiwei is giving me a tour of the
huge new studio he is building about an hour’s drive from Lisbon. There is not
another house in sight, just the flat green landscape of the Alentejo, and a
big blue sky dotted with darting swallows. The studio, explains the artist, is
a replica of his old one in Shanghai, which was finished in 2011 only to be
almost immediately demolished by the Chinese authorities: officially, because
it contravened planning regulations; unofficially, because of Ai’s outspoken
criticism of the government. Months later, the artist was imprisoned for three
months then placed under house arrest. When his passport was returned in 2015,
he left the country and has not returned since.
“We live in a constantly changing landscape,” says Ai. His has certainly
changed more than most people’s. After China, he set up in Berlin but left
under a cloud, saying: “Nazism perfectly exists in German daily life today.” He
moved on to the UK, where he has had run-ins with immigration authorities. On
his first visit, he was initially granted a visa for just 20 days on account of
his “criminal conviction” in China.
He still likes Britain, though. His 13-year-old son is at school in Cambridge
and Ai visits often. “Britain is like a jacket with many pockets,” he says. “It
has a lot. It’s vibrating. But I’m too old for that.” Ai is 65. “When you walk
on the street in London, you feel you’re a little bit in the way of the young
people. I needed a place to be more peaceful by myself.” He likes the food,
weather and people here in Portugal, he says, as we drink tea on the verandah
of the farmhouse next to the site of his studio, with a view of his swimming
pool and the countryside beyond. Numerous cats and dogs bask and lope around;
birds squawk in a nearby cage.
The studio’s jointed timber structure draws on traditional Chinese
architecture. It is not an easy job: no nails, no glue and every piece of wood
different. “I realised I needed to build something to create enough problems
for me to make contact with local construction workers,” he says. Planning
permission wasn’t easy either, but he likened the studio to an agricultural
warehouse. With a conspiratorial smile, he explains: “When they asked me what I
was going to put in it, I said, ‘Sunflower seeds.’”
Ai is referring to one of his best-known works: his spectacular 2010
installation of 100m porcelain sunflower seeds that filled the vast Turbine
Hall of London’s Tate Modern. Each seed was handmade and painted in China. The
scale of the work and the labour involved seemed inconceivable – yet, the
artist pointed out, China’s population is over 10 times that figure."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
