The Observer has an interview with iconoclastic artist Ai Weiwei:
Ai Weiwei, China’s most famous living artist, lives and works in Caochangdi, which used to be a village to the east of Beijing but is now, thanks to the city’s endless creep – locals call Beijing Tan Da Bing, or spreading pancake – just another crowded suburb. It takes a long time to get anywhere in Beijing, and in our taxi, April, my translator, is getting more and more excited. ‘He’s like the king,’ she says (she has met him before). ‘And we will be like… the servants. The people who work for him, they’re like his servants, too. If he doesn’t want a drink, no one gets one.’ She smiles. Being received by Ai Weiwei, you understand, is an honour, no matter how gnomic his pronouncements, nor how desperate you might be for a cup of tea.
