Ai Weiwei
born 1957, in Beijing, China; lives and works in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal
Ai Weiwei is arguably the best-known contemporary artist from China. He was a member of the seminal Stars Group (Xingxing huahui), which staged the first exhibition of Chinese contemporary avant-garde art in 1979. Since then, he has maintained a position as a leader within the field and as a champion for younger generations of Chinese artists. Ai’s more recent and sometimes controversial activist-based work has focused on the dynamics of power, censorship, and government corruption, and the plight of refugees and others marginalized by society.
