I read an op-ed in the New York Times. It starts off talking about Ai WeiWei’s genius as an artist and how he has an extraordinary ability to say so much with so little with things that are so beautiful. His sun flower seed piece where he covered the ground of the Turbine Hall in London with 100 million hand painted porcelain sun flower seeds. It was meant for people to walk on but it was soon discovered that the seeds gave off a fine powder when walked on that was harmful to people. The NYTimes writer focuses on the fact that art can be dangerous. Especially in Ai WeiWei’s case this is very true. He was ranked number 13 in Art Review magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful figures in art. This fame turned out to be a gift for Ai WeiWei but also a curse because with that he was empowered to help so many more people but because of the country he lives in he is constantly persecuted. It has always been basic forms with embarrassing him, harassing him, and spying on him but now they have gone to an extreme and kidnapped him taking computer and papers from his offices and accusing him of crimes that are not true. This isn’t the first time China has done this to someone. This situation reminds people of Liu Xianbin, a Nobel Peace Prize writer who last month was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The article gives many other examples of situations just like the ones of Ai WeiWEi and Lui Xianbin. When artists chose to speak out they are risking everything. No everyone wants to do that but the few that are willing always end up paying the price. Many people think that is it the duty of the free society’s in the world to do something to end the oppression but little seems to have been done. China is one of the greatest threats to freedom of speech and people can’t just sit around and do nothing when the people that are putting their lives on the line are being kidnapped and tortured to gain the basic human rights each person should have.
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