Ai Weiwei ─ Spatial Matters: Art Architecture and Activism

Outspoken, provocative, and prolific, the artist Ai Weiwei is an internationalphenomenon. In recent years, he has produced an astonishingly varied body of work while continuinghis role as activist, provocateur, and conscience of a nation. Ai Weiwei is under "cityarrest" in Beijing after an 81-day imprisonment; he is accused of tax evasion, but many suspecthe is being punished for his political activism, including his exposure of shoddy school buildingpractices that led to the deaths of thousands of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2009,he was badly beaten by the police during his earthquake investigations.

AiWeiwei's work reflects his multiple artistic identities as conceptual artist, architect, filmmaker,designer, curator, writer, and publisher. This monumental volume, developed in association with theartist, draws on the full breadth of Ai Weiwei's architectural, installation, and activist work,with a focus on his use of space. It documents a huge range of international projects with drawings,plans, and photographs of finished work. It also includes excerpts from Ai Weiwei's famous blog(shut down by Chinese authorities in 2009), in which he offers pithy and scathing commentary on theworld around him. Essays by leading critics and art historians and interviews with the artist,drawing out his central concerns, accompany the 450 beautifully reproduced color illustrations ofhis work.

Ai Weiwei is an artist and activist. His recent exhibitions include "Sunflower Seeds" at the Tate Modern, London, a vast assemblage of handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds; and six fiberglass dioramas depicting his 81-day imprisonment in 2011, shown at a Venice gallery in parallel with the 2013 Venice Biennale. He was a designer of the famous "Bird's Nest" stadium of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.