Artists in times of upheaval: Ai Weiwei

Leading contemporary artist Ai Weiwei joins Factory International Creative Director Kee Hong Low for a special talk in our Artist in Times of Upheaval series
 
As a conceptual artist, Ai Weiwei uses a wide range of media to reflect on contemporary geopolitics and society – from sculptural installation, filmmaking and photography to ceramics, painting, writing and virtual spaces like social media.
 
Ai Weiwei’s work and life regularly interact and inform one another – from his early work challenging authority and history and his ongoing activism and advocacy for international human rights.
 
In this 60-minute conversation followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A, Ai Weiwei will discuss role as a global citizen, artist and thinker with Factory International Creative Director Kee Hong Low.
 
Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei has exhibited extensively at institutions and biennials worldwide. The artist’s memoir 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows was published in 2021, and his autobiographical graphic novel Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir, in collaboration with Elettra Stamboulis and Gianluca Costantini, was published in 2024. His human rights work has been recognised through the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent in 2012 and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2015.
 
Ai Weiwei’s architectural collaborations include the 2012 Serpentine Pavilion and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium, with Herzog and de Meuron. Among numerous awards and honours, he received the Praemium Imperiale for sculpture from the Japan Art Association in Tokyo in 2022, won the lifetime achievement award from the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards in 2008 and was made Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2011.
 
Join us in the Hall for an insightful talk with one of leading cultural figures of his generation.