Chinese authorities released provocative artist and recent international cause célèbre Ai Weiwei late yesterday in Beijing after holding him without formal charges for more than 10 weeks. DCQ Arts + Architecture Editor Ali Rodberg was there in the wee hours to document the scene as Weiwei emerged from his home in Caochangdi — the suburban Beijing arts hub Weiwei helped master-plan as a grassroots alternative to the city’s tourist-friendly 798 District — to address a clamoring throng of mostly Western journalists.
Weiwei refused to answer substantive questions, explaining that he could not grant interviews since he was free “on bail” — a line of reasoning that suggests Chinese authorities demanded silence from the noted dissident in exchange for his release.
Ali, for her part, jumped and jumped, and managed to capture a clump of Weiwei’s matted beard (and is that an eyebrow?) with her point-and-shoot through the tall forest of accredited Caucasians.
Fortunately, DCQ pal Nick Gervasi swooped in with sharp elbows and long arms to capture this video of the poor guy, who clearly just wanted to drink a hot toddy and catch up on Treme:
Meanwhile, at least four of Weiwei’s less-prominent associates — along with innumerable other political prisoners — remain detained in unknown locations “at high risk” of torture, according to Human Rights Watch. Woohoo! Here, forget that bit of unpleasantness by watching this excellent short on Weiwei’s preparation for his “Sunflower Seeds” exhibit at London’s Tate Museum last year, wherein the artist put 1,600 Chinese villagers to work hand-painting hundreds of thousands of porcelain orbs to resemble the show’s namesake:
