Art Activism: Ai Weiwei and his amazing ways.

I am forever floored by Ai Weiwei's ability to push boundaries and speak truth through his artwork and actions. He uses concepts of Modern Art such as ready-mades and combines them with Chinese traditions to pinpoint political and social problems. Here are a few that particularly speak to me.

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995.

This is one of Ai's formative pieces of controversial art. He dropped a 2000 year old ceremonial urn that had high symbolic, monetary, and cultural worth. His action was in reference to the cultural erasing and hypocrisy that happened in Communist China.

Ton of Tea, 2005.

Ai is combining Minimalist sculpture aesthetics and the ubiquitous drink of China to bring awareness to the separation of past and present in China.

Sunflower Seeds, 2010.

Hundreds of crafstmen from Jingdezhen, a Chinese city well known for ceramics, were employed by Ai to create 100 million sunflower seeds. Again, Ai is connecting history and culture with contemporary art making in order to bring up questions from the viewer. In a world where "Made in China" is all too common and the mass production of goods for extremely cheap costs is the norm, Ai brings attention to this sensitive issue of the cost of human life and labor.