On a visit to Australia, artist and co-designer of the Bird’s Nest Oympics stadium Ai Weiwei speaks out against the government. From the Australian:
“I don’t see myself as a dissident artist, I see them as a dissident government,” the Beijing-based artist said at the opening of a major installation of beams and tables called Through at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation.
Courting an official reprimand, he also took aim at the state-run Chinese newspapers, which continually referred to the Games as the “Holy Games” and the torch relay as the “Holy torch”.
Holiness, he said, wasn’t even a communist concept. “I think they (the Chinese Government) encourage nationalist behaviour,” he added, referring to the torch relay.
“It’s blind; it’s sentiment without a clear intellectual concept. It’s crazy, what they’re so excited about.”
