This 2012 documentary follows the Chinese artist and political activist, Ai Weiwei. Weiwei is considered to be one of the art world's most influential artists due to his strong political activism directed at China. Weiwei took to the Twitterverse following the shutdown of his blog, which often critiqued China's government. The documentary interviews and follows Weiwei city-to-city, art exhibit-to-art exhibit, protest-to-protest, and everything in-between leading up to his "disappearance" in 2011. Weiwei's comments, as well as his friends and family, provide insight into his vocalization and fight for China.
This documentary was enthralling and provided an intense look at Chinese people who are unhappy with their current government policies. Each of Weiwei's art pieces and acts of protest are captivating to see, especially as the viewer discovers Weiwei's purpose for each piece which are all ultimately directed at the Chinese government.
Parts of the film could be easily used during lessons in the classroom regarding freedom of speech, government, and using artwork as a voice, just to name a few. Clips from the film would need to be reviewed considering there are some offensive gestures and language used in the film, but the use of candid footage and interviews draw a deeper sense of empathy for Weiwei's cause. The documentary would serve as an excellent source in any History or Government class when examining 20th century Chinese history and present day events.
The documentary is currently available on Netflix, and here is a PBS link that provides some interesting information and links regardless of whether or not you have seen Never Sorry.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/ai-weiwei/
edited by iramos on 5/17/2015
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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
08/10/2015 11:11 AM
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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Never retreat..Retweet..I thought this movie was amazing as I had heard of him and his political activist work for human rights. I did not know before this movie that he was a consulting artist for the Bird's nest stadium. I knew he exposed the corruption related to the deaths of the children after the earthquake. I am not sure I could use it in my class except maybe show a few clips of who he is. However I would like to expose his artwork to my students and talk about his work for civil rights. Excellent movie.
WeiWei tells the story of how he has one cat who has figured out how to open the studio door and go outside. He mentions that the cat never closes the door, but leaves it open for other cats to leave. I believe this is a metaphor for his own intentions, to open the door for the Chinese people.
This film also features his major installation of sunflower seeds made of porcelain. In addition to creating his artwork, WeiWei keeps artisan villages alive in their arts by making huge commissions for the elements of his artworks. WeiWei uses the sunflower seed as a metaphor for tweets. If each tweet is a seed, then what is the potential for each seed- for it to grow into a new flower full of seeds! There are many ways his work will appeal to young students, and they can learn the potential of simple and poetic materials.
Ai WeiWei is a world class artist. Whether you look at him a formal, conceptual artist, or as a political dissident, the man makes striking images and he is willing to get intensely involved in the issues that empassion him. WeiWei hires his own team of researchers to find the true number of dead or missing people after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province. WeiWei uses the metaphor of the student's backpack as a unit in a pattern where is writes out a message in backpacks in a large scale installation wrapping a building in Germany. In a later installation, he builds a monument of backpacks with a sound installation of the lost student's names being read. From wikipedia"[font=sans-serif]Details of school casualties had been under non-governmental investigation since December 2008 by volunteers including artist and architect [/font]Ai Weiwei[font=sans-serif], who had been constantly posting updates on his blog since March 2009.[/font][78][font=sans-serif] The official tally of students killed in the earthquake was not released until May 7, 2009, almost a year after the earthquake. According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, the earthquake killed 5,335 students and left another 546 children disabled.[/font][79][font=sans-serif] " [/font]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake