Thursday, we’re profiling China’s first global art star, Ai Weiwei. He’s also the country’s most outspoken domestic critic. His work blurs the lines between art and politics, and it tests the boundaries of free speech in a country infamous for censorship and crackdowns on dissent. In a new documentary, the filmmaker Alison Klayman chronicles three years in Ai’s life, capturing his run-ins with the Chinese authorities, his development as an artist and the spirit of an artistic activist. Doug will talk with Klayman and the art curator Mika Yoshitake about the life and art of Ai Weiwei.
- The Salt Lake Film Society is bringing Alison Klayman's film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry to Salt Lake City. It opens on Friday, August 24, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas. Screenings are at 12:10, 2:10, 4:10 and 7:05. The film is schedule to run through August 30. For more details, visit the Salt Lake Film Society's web site. We'll even lend a hand to help find a screening outside of the Salt Lake area.
- If you'd like to see Ai Weiwei's art in person, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will be presenting a major survey of Ai's work starting October 7. The exhibit is called Ai Weiwei: According to What? and it will include examples from the broad spectrum of Ai's artistic practice, from sculpture, photography, and video to site-specific architectural installations.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry OFFICIAL TRAILER from Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on Vimeo.
GUESTS
- Alison Klayman is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker. While living in China from 2006 to 2010, Klayman produced radio and television feature stories for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS's Frontline, Voice of America, Current TV, and the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is her first documentary film.
- Mika Yoshitake is an assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She's helping to curate the museum's upcoming exhibit, Ai Weiwei: According to What?, alongside the principle curator, Mami Kataoka, and the Hirshhorn's deputy director and chief curator, Kerry Brougher.
Music
- Matteo, "Sino Train," "Brocade River Barcarole," "If All I Need Is All I Want"
