112 TIME October 23, 2017‘It’s a violation of
our understanding
of human rights
and human
dignity, and it’s just
such a backward
movement.’7 Questions
Ai Weiwei The Chinese artist and activist is taking
on migration issues and the rise of nationalism with a
documentary and his biggest public art project to date
you in the country legally? Nobody
ever asked me that question. I came to
the U.S. as a student. But I dropped out
of school and so I became an illegal alien
in New York City for years. Nobody ever
checked—not even when I brought a lot
of trouble to the police, when we had
the [Tompkins Square Park] riots.Why did you pull back on social
media? I grew up in a society in which
no individual voice can be heard,
whether you are a President or company
leader or poet. So when social media
provided me such a possibility, I got
absolutely lost in it. I was kind of
completely wild, and I spent, like, 24
hours a day [with it]. It was just never
enough. After so much argument about
those very essential values, I lost my
voice. It’s just like a singer lost his voice
because I repeatedly talked about those
big issues. And then one day I had a
chance to develop artworks.You paid a price for your father’s
work as a poet when he was
exiled. How do you feel about
your son in that context?I was
born while my father was being
purged, and I grew up in this
exiled condition; he cleaned
public toilets in a very remote
area. And then for 30 years,
he was forbidden to write
anything. But he is today the
most patriotic poet, loves his
nation, his people and the
fight for the independence
of the nation. At the time I
was arrested, my son was
only 2½. When I went into
detention, the only thing I
felt sorry about is I thought
I was going to be sentenced
to over 10 years. So my
son’s condition really made
me become much softer.
I have to protect his safety,
have to send him to Germany
to a safe ground and also I have
to take this exile path with him.
—BELINDA LUSCOMBEYour exhibition in New York City
is called “Good Fences Make Good
Neighbors.” What’s it about? Before
the Berlin Wall collapsed, about 11
nations had border [walls] and fences.
Now it’s jumped to 70, so you have
seen the tendency to exclude and to
defend. New York is a city that is made
of immigrants. This is not a normal
kind of public art; it uses the city as
a ready-made and develops projects
through the city’s boroughs, especially
the immigrant areas, using bus shelters
and subway stops.Some people support President
Trump’s wall because they’re worried
about being overwhelmed by people
from other countries. What would
you say to them? There’s a lot of talk
about the potential danger. It’s saying,
“We are better than them. They are
the danger. They are the problem.” It’s
trying not to recognize humanity as
one. It’s against the ideology that we’re
all created equal, and it’s a violation
of our understanding of human rights
and human dignity, and it’s just such a
backward movement.How do you walk the line between
making art that connects as art,
and art that connects as a political
statement? First, I’m an artist.
Absolutely, my art is with me in all my
activities. My defense of human rights or
freedom of speech is really related to the
very essential core of the art practice.There’s a discussion going on about
Confederate statues in the U.S. Do
you think they should be removed?
I support the freedom of speech. I think
that is what we have to defend, and
even though those statues may not be
pleasant, they still reflect where we come
from. If you see what happens in China,
the party constantly changes reality and
history to its own favor, which really
establishes a totally tyrannical control.You lived in the U.S. for a little while
as an art student in the ’80s. WereVENTURELLI—WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES