Ai Weiwei and His Political Art

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/04/ai-weiwei-on-china-free-speech-and-a-message-for-london

It’s refreshing to see someone with such strong political opinions during an era where many people may be intimidated into staying silent. This article reveals Weiwei’s stance on more current topics, for example the general public’s reaction to Trump contracting the coronavirus, to his political actions in the past. All demonstrate his passion for expressing himself through his art. I always find it fascinating when artists use free speech as an aspect of their art. The article includes one of Weiwei’s more recent installations, where he has a large screen in the middle of Piccadilly Circus, London displaying segments from his political films. His hope is that through repeatedly introducing his audience to the images in his film clips, they will feel impacted somehow by the tragedy depicted in them. However, he interestingly notes that he fears the lack of empathy resulting from the inundation of images we already receive on a daily basis through social media. I feel that this is important as a visual artist. How do you properly impact your audience when they are already exposed to, and thus are no longer shocked by, your subject matter? Due to the internet and social media, you have to find new and more creative ways to grab your audience’s attention. I suppose that is why advertisements are so popularly used; the audience is forced to watch them.

Expressing oneself in such a controversial sphere is a trait I generally find to be admirable, and I always find it interesting to see how different artists approach this more difficult task.