Sunday Pick: Ai Weiwei | Design Matters  ## Metadata - Author: [[TED Talks Daily]] - Full Title: Sunday Pick: Ai Weiwei | Design Matters - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/4b43f964-e817-49ef-815e-29ef9755f827 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Imprisonment and Torture Experience** - Ai Weiwei was imprisoned in 2011 for 81 days under harsh conditions with armed guards timing every action. - He endured psychological torture but maintained his conviction and refused to admit wrongdoing. Transcript: Debbie Millman Your head, and imprisoned you in a detention center. For the next 81 days, no one knew where you were or if you were even alive. At the time of the arrest, did you have any idea what crime you were being accused of? Ai Weiwei I feel I'm very safe because I'm at the hand of this nation. You know, I've become kidnapped by the government, so I feel safe. And yeah, I'm always wondering how my mom will think about me or other friends, because they simply have no clue where this guy suddenly disappeared. I was quite noisy before I got disappeared. Debbie Millman Noisy in what way? Ai Weiwei Well, I just keep talking online. I write a few posts a day. It could be long articles and make a lot of argument so suddenly my my disappearance created a volume you know which is empty so everybody asks where is this guy you know during this time Debbie Millman You were subjected to psychological torture. You were held captive in a 280-square room. Two armed guards surrounded you and monitored every move that you made. They watched you eat, sleep, shower, defecate. And if that weren't torture enough, they also timed every one of these activities, which meant if you showered too quickly, you had to stand naked and wet before you could dry yourself Off and put on your clothes. Is it true you even had to ask permission to scratch your head? Ai Weiwei Well, think about that was exactly 10 years ago. Now I kind of miss that time if I ask somebody to watch me taking a shower. It's not an easy thing now. Yes. Debbie Millman Not the answer I was expecting. Yeah. Ai Weiwei You know, funny enough, those things happened. Debbie Millman But you stated that everything apart from breathing was prohibited while you were in detention, and living didn't seem much different from being dead. How did you manage this psychologically at the time? Ai Weiwei I guess I still have a lot of curiosity to see how this condition will lead me to, because why they start something like this, how would they? What kind of conclusion they would come to? So I still, every day, I'm waiting for them to make some kind of decisions. Because nothing you can do. You're just sitting there and listening to their instructions. ([Time 0:07:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e5d245dc-a79d-4485-abf5-18ff0175631d)) - **Life in Little Siberia Exile** - Ai Weiwei spent 16 years with his father in a remote exile called Little Siberia, facing harsh conditions. - His father was punished for political reasons, and the family endured physical hardship and isolation together. Transcript: Debbie Millman You were imprisoned, you thought a lot about your father, Ai Qing, who one year after you were born was imprisoned after Chairman Mao unleashed a political initiative designed to purge Artists from China who had criticized the government. And this included your father, who was one of the most important poets in China. First, he was sent to an icy wilderness in far northeast China. And then, when you were 10, he was banished to a location known as Little Siberia. Where is Little Siberia? Ai Weiwei Well, this is located in northwest of China. It's probably, if you go further, you'll end up in Pakistan or Russia. You know, it's really at the border of the very remote province called the Xinjiang province, where the Uyghur people today has to be put in the re-education or some kind of labor camps. Debbie Millman So they are an attempt to remold people through hard labor. Ai Weiwei They don't like those intellectuals. When you don't like someone, you think you should put them as far as possible. So the farthest place is a location. Many, many people have been putting far away. Debbie Millman You went to Little Siberia with your father. Ai Weiwei I grew up in there. I spent about 16 years there. My father spent about 18 years there. Debbie Millman Your mother and your little brother did not go to Little Siberia. Ai Weiwei They did, but they come, they went out for one year, then they come back. ([Time 0:12:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/39eab443-cf54-4551-818c-16844b026426)) - **Loneliness Shapes Social Awareness** - Estrangement and hostility taught Ai Weiwei clear social awareness and shaped his judgment on social roles. - Rejection helped him understand his identity and society's constructs deeply. Transcript: Debbie Millman And you go on to state that the estrangement and hostility that you encountered instilled in you a clear awareness of who you were and it shaped your judgment about how social positions Are defined i kind of feel like i know what the answer is going to be to this question but i'm going to ask it anyway i'm sorry of course When did it occur to you that you might also want to be An artist? Ai Weiwei No, I really not. ([Time 0:25:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/94c8b73d-a931-4d16-aede-e143b9967958)) - **Shared Suffering with Father** - Being imprisoned made Ai Weiwei feel he matched the experience and suffering of his father. - This connection gave him a sense of pride despite the oppression faced. Transcript: Debbie Millman Why proud? Ai Weiwei Well, I think first there's something I would never understand about my father. Why he has been put in prison. So until I been put in the same condition, then I said, wow, this is, I can match, you know, even I don't understand clearly why I have to be put in the prison. But still, I think I matched my father. That moment was pretty joyful. Debbie Millman Did you feel like you understood him better in that position at that time? Ai Weiwei Yeah, we were in very different positions and I'd never been sentenced. ([Time 0:26:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5d14fb59-0b16-4b65-8362-9038342b273b)) - **Memoir Writing Process** - Writing his memoir was a difficult, tiring process for Ai Weiwei but essential for preserving history. - He wrote two hours each morning over many years to create a factual record for his son and future. Transcript: Debbie Millman Was it like for you to write this book? Ai Weiwei It was, writing for me is always... It's not a very natural act, but it's more like a job. So I spend two hours every morning, sit down and to write, till I get easily to get tired when writing, because you have to concentrate so much. It's not very natural. So two hours make me whole day feel tired. It's not a good job, but it takes 10 years to really make you feel okay. That's a book. It's not you're satisfied, but to think you can put it down and to do something else. How ([Time 0:35:05](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e119003f-c693-4778-9295-7f8436c4a0ba)) - **Poetry as Expression of Democracy** - Ai Weiwei believes only when expression is free can the hopes of people be voiced and progress happen. - His father's poetry linked democratic spirit and freedom of expression as crucial for societal change. Transcript: Debbie Millman Okay. It's quite astonishing. Your dad wrote that. Ai Weiwei Yeah, that's why writing is difficult because it's really leading you to somewhere you will not even think about or even touch about. Debbie Millman Eighty years later, your father's faith in poetry as freedom's ambassador has yet to find any kind of vindication in China. And you state that refusing to forget can become an act of resistance. Are you at all optimistic that your book might make inroads in changing anything in China? ([Time 0:37:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4f97273a-4449-4332-a460-420945e0155c)) - **Capitalism's Impact on Art** - Contemporary art is compromised by capitalism, benefiting collectors and institutions over creative freedom. - Ai Weiwei cynically suggested radical solutions like burning museums to reset the system. Transcript: Debbie Millman And you say that contemporary art has been compromised by capitalism. And I'm wondering if you can talk about how this has happened and what, if anything, can be done about it. Ai Weiwei May find a lot of problems, but we don't know how to, you know, how to deal with it. It's just like a pandemic. We know it's existing, but sometimes we think, it's really existing. But of course, if you read the numbers, you would understand, yes, so many casualties, and so many things have been affected. Same as when you look at the contemporary art, it's easily you can draw the conclusion, who is benefited and where those art goes and who's collecting, and which museum they will later Sit in. So I think it's easy to figure out what is wrong. Debbie Millman How do you think it should be fixed? Ai Weiwei How to fix it? Maybe burn all those museums. Maybe. It's not like maybe. Don't do it. Debbie Millman But film it while it's happening so you at least have a piece of art that you make while you're doing it. You know, it's not my suggestion. Ai Weiwei I think in the surrealist in the last century, they said something like that. Debbie Millman But if you could redesign the system of buying and selling art, what would you envision? Ai Weiwei I don't think anybody can design the system. ([Time 0:43:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/34c8a8d0-1c64-4ae8-9f4f-b3824084e7d0)) - **Massive Ceramic Sunflower Seeds Project** - Ai Weiwei commissioned 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds from workers in China over two years. - He acknowledged that artists often rely on many assistants to produce large bodies of work today. Transcript: Debbie Millman It's not created. Ai Weiwei It's I ordered from workers in China. You know, I... I pay them the salary and 1,600 lady women, that's what they do for two years. Debbie Millman 100 million sunflower seeds. Yes. So I've been visiting a number of different artist studios over the last year. And almost everybody that I visit now has a lot of assistance they're an artist but they have a lot of people working for them because they are lazy or because well I mean that's I think An easy answer I think that makes sense if you're thinking about somebody making something by hand in the traditional way. But it does allow for an artist to produce more work, to get more work out there, to be more prolific. Sitting yourself painting ceramic sunflowers, if you were making 100 million of them, you'd be doing that for the rest of your life. So does it change the way you view the art if somebody else is helping you? Ai Weiwei It changes the way I view the art because all those sunflowers still stay in my warehouse because there's too many nobody can ever handle the many things and also if you see every artist Produce so much but if you go to MoMA the museum you see what they hang in there is about works happening 100 years ago like Van Gogh or... Debbie Millman Right, he didn't have a bevy of assistance. Ai Weiwei No, no, no. They're so timid. They don't know how to handle the art of today. And they're so... I don't know. They don't even drink, but they seem so drunk. ([Time 0:45:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/976b48ff-12d8-4344-a0b3-d40a46dd2c99)) - **Hope as Tragic and Vital** - Ai Weiwei views hope as revealing the condition of the heart but also sees it as potentially tragic. - He reflects that hope might be a human mistake but is integral to human experience. Transcript: Debbie Millman That's easy. You've said that the consequences of hope are to show the condition of our heart. I'll say that again so that the audience can really appreciate it. The consequences of hope are to show the condition of our heart. Ai Weiwei That will end up tragic. Debbie Millman I actually was going to ask you if that means you're an optimist, and now you're telling me that it's tragic. Why is it tragic? Ai Weiwei Because being real can be very damaging, and it can be very tragic in our society. Debbie Millman Then why even think about hope? Ai Weiwei It's just, as humans, we have a lot of, we constantly make mistakes. So think of hope is one of them. Debbie Millman You think hope is a mistake? Ai Weiwei Most likely. I cannot say every hope is a mistake, but... ([Time 0:48:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9a1e950f-4f2e-40da-805e-a9da3a3f25ff)) - **Son's Poem Reflects Awareness** - Ai Weiwei's son, at age five, wrote a poem for his father but asked him to read it when he turned eight. - The poem reflects the child's awareness and a poignant goodbye to their nation. Transcript: Debbie Millman Is a poem by Ai Lao, by Wei Wei Sun, five years old. The wind blows westward. The water flows eastward. I stand here remembering this lovely scene three years ago when I was still a little kid. I was already smart. Goodbye nation. ([Time 0:51:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/bdb87218-30d3-4217-8180-dec2319b2178))