Ai Weiwei

Politically frank and aesthetically poignant, Ai Weiwei's works deal with Chinese history and contemporary society. His formal practise changes in form and the materials deployed according to the diversity of activities his art embraces. Influenced from his early career by Dada, Duchamp, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, Ai Weiwei's works have been based on a conceptual approach, in installations and sculptures.

The socio-political and economic climate of contemporary China most often serves as the starting point for Ai Weiwei's art - he has in the past years provoked Chinese authorities in his outspoken critique of the lack of democracy and freedom of speech.

Today, Ai Weiwei lives and works in Berlin and Beijing, and has recently directed a number of documentary films, which explore the humanitarian crisis, revolving around refugees fleeing their countries, due to war and climate change.