China angry with naming of dissident artist as most influential - Tibetan Review
China angry with naming of dissident artist as most influential
(TibetanReview.net, Oct15, 2011) China has on Oct 13 cried “political bias” to London-based ArtReview magazine’s naming of Chinese dissident artist Mr Ai Weiwei as the art world’s most influential figure. Ai topped the magazine’s annual Power 100 list but China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin has told a regular press briefing in Beijing that China had a lot of famous artists strong enough to qualify for selection.
Liu has maintained that Ai’s selection was made “purely from a position of political bias” and it therefore “violates the magazine’s objective”.
Ai, 54, has been a strident critic of everything from Beijing’s handling of the Olympics to government officials’ refusal to account for children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. He was released in June after being in detention for 81 days for alleged tax evasion on condition that he would not talk to the media.
In explaining the selection of Ai – who ranked 13th on last year’s list – the magazine has made it clear that politics was indeed a factor: “Ai’s power and influence derive from the fact that his work and his words have become catalysts for international political debates that affect every nation on the planet.”
The magazine has noted that Ai’s detention only increased the world’s appetite for his art. An exhibition of his work in the Lisson Gallery, the magazine notes, “became a site of pilgrimage and protest regarding his detention,” it said. Other exhibitions of his work this year in the UK, US, Germany and Switzerland were said to have also attracted large crowds.
A blogs.wsj.com Oct 14 posting noted that while it was true that China boasted a significant number of wealthy and influential artists, thanks in part to Beijing’s own efforts, none could match Mr Ai for global clout. "His activism has been a reminder of how art can reach out to a bigger audience and connect with the real world," thestandard.com.hk Oct 14 quoted ArtReview editor Mark Rappolt as saying.
This has been the magazine’s 10th annual list of “the dancers who’ve spent the past 12 months gyrating around contemporary art’s greasy pole of power”. Ai is only the second artist to top the list, which also includes collectors, curators and critics.
