Curated lets us know about this important work by Ai Weiwei:

“What an incredible image this is. Created by China’s Ai Weiwei and titled Forever Bicycle, it is an impressive feat. Now if only he could attend his own show. This piece is part of the larger show fittingly called Absent. After his imprisonment, the Chinese government is keeping close tabs on the most prominent artist the country has produced in the recent past and is not allowing him to attend. Let’s just hope he continues to stay a free man (of sorts) and another unjust imprisonment is not in his future.”

See more over at Curated.

Curated lets us know about this piece of big news:

“On Wednesday night, June 22nd at 10:15 pm Beijing time, Xinhua produced a statement that Ai Weiwei had been released on bail because of “his good attitude in confessing crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from.” Hours later, Ai had returned to his home-studio compound in northeastern Beijing and responded to a flurry of text messages and phone calls. He has told the Guardian and other media outlets that he is “fine” and happy to be home. The first photos of Weiwei following his release appeared in the New York Times. The conditions of Weiwei’s release have yet to be confirmed, but Weiwei’s legal counsel, Liu Xiaoyuan, did suggest over Twitter that the artist would not be allowed to exit Beijing city limits. Weiwei himself has stated that he will not be allowed to conduct interviews or use social media for at least “one year.” Many have speculated about the timing of Weiwei’s release, which occurred just days before Wen Jiabao’s visit to Hungary, Germany and Britain, countries that have been particularly critical of Weiwei’s extrajudicial detention.”

See more over at Curated.

Dazed’s June issue is a special issue focused on global activism. Ai Weiwei gets the cover which helps continue to keep focus on his detainment by the Chinese government. Much more is covered in the “Global Activism Special” issue: “The magazine also spends a few days with the underground resistance fighters of Burma’s brutal dictatorship, hears street artist JR’s account of his art revolution in Tunisia, and profiles some of the Middle East’s young activists fighting for a new tomorrow.”

A full view of June 2011’s Dazed * Confused cover with Ai Weiwei after the click.

Later this month, MIT Press will be releasing a new book, “Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009,” and the timing could not be better to bring my light on the  Chinese activist and artist. The book collects Ai Weiwei’s blog writings and more, much of it “removed” by Chinese authorities.

“In 2006, even though he could barely type, China’s most famous artist started blogging. For more than three years, Ai Weiwei turned out a steady stream of scathing social commentary, criticism of government policy, thoughts on art and architecture, and autobiographical writings. He wrote about the Sichuan earthquake (and posted a list of the schoolchildren who died because of the government’s “tofu-dregs engineering”), reminisced about Andy Warhol and the East Village art scene, described the irony of being investigated for “fraud” by the Ministry of Public Security, made a modest proposal for tax collection. Then, on June 1, 2009, Chinese authorities shut down the blog.”

Available from Amazon.

If you have not taken a moment to read our “Curated Q&A” with Alison Klayman, Director of  “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” we recommend it.

Here’s the second part of the Curated Q&A with Alison Klayman:

“With news of Ai Weiwei’s detainment all over international media and Chinese officials investigating Weiwei for economic crimes, the second portion of our chat with Alison Klayman, director of “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” comes amid a storm of Weiwei news. In this segment, Klayman talks about Weiwei’s process and interest in materials. Important throughout is the notion of the “idea” as the art.”

Read it over at Curated.

Curated turns us onto this video: