Ai Weiwei: “I’m not brave – I’m trying to be funny”

I think this is what freedom looks like taking her Selfridge after more than four years I Weiwei has his passport back from the Chinese authorities who seized it just in time for the opening of his major show at the Royal Academy in London inside there's even protests hiding in the wallpaper it is absolutely clear that I Weiwei has lost none of his courage in attacking the regime in Beijing all of the pieces on show is an art book with an ADA said of the world's greatest artists in the European edition I Weiwei is there on page three yeah then I realized this our training is the transfer translated book of this book yeah same book translated into Chinese a same page the worker being replaced by a person who who was Michelangelo's assistant so if you see every other page will be the same yeah see ya yeah on the page but the only the page that means Chinese officials on the culture censorship they are so careful and they are so sensitive and they have to work with the publishers from the west together yes I think art is always dangerous this is dangerous I think though I think it it talks about uncertainty it talks about imagination it talks about something beyond our rationality and and I give trust to our emotions so in that sense it's kinda dangerous to a certain society because in a regulated society yeah you have irregular thoughts they don't yeah it's that so you really are very dangerous I think it's true you're brave but I'm not so brave I'm just trying to be funny or something no no this well this is when you were under arrest yeah that's another have a room it tells us a story one I was arrested because I owe people explanation what and how this condition is and you know the state never reveal these kind of conditions so I think I have to make a sculpture out of it to let people say all the details but did you make it enjoy it we made it quite discreetly this very very well typical morning how long were you in these conditions only 81 days but that seems very long did any diplomat come to see when you were in in here diplomat here I can my mommy even doesn't know where I am she is trying to find out they will never let her know there's no lawyer can be contact and then there's no way to have any information from outside why do they let you Artie I don't know but they told me we can no it's lighter year I'm gonna put you back here oh yeah they said that we we can put you back and that we don't ever have to let you out but you will go back to China if I can't well then you have to trust that that if you get a visa to go back there permission to your bachelor to trust them you say I always trust people even yeah that's my problem and I trust you man adhere trust people have good intentions I trust people order understand our rational act and if I do have the freedom I will use it freedom is now something how God worship it I haven't used my freedom that may bring me to more difficult situation but that's me but it isn't all about protest his sons pushchair carved from a single block of marble inevitably the surveillance cameras in the corner reconstituted timber constructed in the traditional Chinese way then there's a telling video on the wall as his new studio was demolished by the authorities who didn't want him in that part of Shanghai anymore some of the bricks he rescued make up this exhibit and then this extraordinary pile of crabs this exhibit is all about the Sichuan earthquake seventy thousand people died and yet the authorities would not name the dead children we managed to have a 150 to 200 tens of the ayran come out from the ruins this is all extracted from the ruins yeah the farm farmers there the brick the concrete and take it out so they resell it some way and I think there's 96 tons in here yes that's true we are lucky the Royal Academy can support it yes this is half of the work this is incredible and these and this is really important isn't it because that although this was a natural disaster the government would not publish the names of the children now they may think of this is kinda how have you been oh we go to town to town home to home school school and from one school to another and we take us a very long to get all those names that's amazing so how many how many children have you never tried have some 200 children's are being on the wall you

Channel: Channel 4 News

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Keywords: Channel 4 News, 4 News, Channel 4, news, latest news, breaking news, news today, aiweiwei, jon snow, art, china

Id: jFI3DzU6cY4

Length: 6min 32sec (392 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2015