Chinese Activist Artist Ai Weiwei Does It His Way

Hong Kong – “Impulsiveness is the most valuable trait for human beings,” said Ai Weiwei, one of the most headline-grabbing political artists in China.

“Ultimately, impulsiveness determines your passion, your instinct and who you truly are!” Ai told a gathering of cyber-acquaintances gathered on the outdoor terrace of a popular Hong Kong watering-hole on April 12.

His guests had one thing in common: their contact with Ai — and in many cases, each other — had occurred via Twitter, the micro-blogging service that limits posts to 140 characters.

To some, Ai is an insensitive, unyielding dissident, an adamant activist whose advocacy of freedom and human rights reveal him to be nothing more than a trouble-maker of the first order.

To others, he is a passionate artist, a courageous blogger, and a heroic figure who stands firm against repressive forces around the globe.

Twitter user at Ai Weiwei's CUHK talk. Photos by Michelle Yun.

Loathed and/or loved for his unrelenting activism, Ai relies heavily on the Internet and social media tools, such as Twitter and his personal blog to communicate his views.

His online discussions and cyber-exposures of controversial subjects have been blamed for fomenting a number of “internet riots” against government cover-ups. One of the best known is his Sichuan Earthquake Names Project that  listed the names of student victims of the 2008 disaster.

Ai is @aiww on Twitter. His mission, he said, is to leap the web-filtering system in China known as the Great Firewall. He hails the Internet as the foundation for individuality.

“The emergence of the internet refined the nature of human beings,” said Ai, “you are able to select information online to make your own judgement and expression without being restrained by your social and political status ”

Against a backdrop of shimmering Hong Kong high-rises, Ai and his cyber-friends — brought together via Twitter — dined and wined away a breezy evening. Though a seemingly carefree social gathering, Ai nevertheless touched upon serious issues in China today. But he was hopeful about China tomorrow.

In a conversation with Vox Asia, Ai emphasized the important role young people in Hong Kong could play in bringing about change.

“Hong Kong is a strategically positioned political city that contains all types of conflicts between history and reality,” said Ai. “Youth here have a solid education and thorough understanding of culture, so I think they should play a more dominant role to achieve social and cultural transformation.”

View the video collage below for a snapshot of Ai’s Twitter gathering.

The informal Twitter-generated evening gathering was followed by a more formal forum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong the following day.

This face-to-face meeting with Ai attracted scores of students of all age groups from a variety of departments. Many more joined in via live streaming and tweeting:

Living up to his reputation as the most outspoken, even brusque, Chinese contemporary artist, Ai pulled no punches: Examples:

Q: “Some say that art should be art and politics should be politics?”

Ai: “In our country, everything is related to politics. We are born to be victims of politics.”

Q: “Why don’t you leave the country that you hate so much?”

Ai: “I like filthy and smelly places. I can stay in China because I cannot tolerate it –- if one day I can tolerate China, that’s when I need to emigrate.”

Q: “How do you want to be remembered?” Ai: “A 280-pound fat man who spent some crazy and hectic time in the world.”

(Photographs by Michelle Yun)