“As an artist, my role in society is to express myself, to share my sensitivities. If I have the position and refuse to do so, it doesn’t matter if I’m called an artist or whatever, it’s just a mental corruption.” —Ai Weiwei
Apparently, Ai Weiwei is taking over Los Angeles this fall. With three concurrent exhibitions – at UTA Artist Space, Jeffrey Deitch’s new LA outpost, and the Marciano Art Foundation – it could certainly seem that way, despite the artist’s claim that he wishes to live a quieter life. In this video from Bloomberg’s fantastic Brilliant Ideas series, “we meet Ai Weiwei in Athens for his solo exhibition at the Cycladic Museum. We revisit his most iconic works and see how Ai Weiwei became the artist and the champion of human rights that he is today.”