VIDEO: Ai Weiwei Alcatraz

The title of international art star Ai Weiwei’s installation on Alcatraz, @Large, is a contradiction, since the artist himself is anything but. Ai was imprisoned by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011, ostensibly on tax-related charges, and his travel is still restricted to his native China. The unusual exhibition on the site of the famous penitentiary opens this weekend and explores themes of freedom and imprisonment. “The idea of freedom is not just a concept,” Ai told KQED, referring to prisoners of conscience around the world who suffer confinement only because “they want to change society.”
- Via KQED - News
(Producer: Adam Grossberg)