Dissentive destruction
Ai Weiwei’s Beijing studio has been demolished by the Chinese government
Above photograph by Ng Han Guan
For the second time in under a decade, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has had his studio demolished by the Chinese government. Following the overnight demolition of his Shanghai studio back in 2011, a move justified by the Chinese government as a breach of planning procedure, his Beijing studio was this weekend razed to the ground with no warning.
Built in the socialist style of an East German factory, the building had been Wei’s studio since 2006, and when the unannounced demolition began last Friday many of the works were still inside, guarded over by one of Wei’s assistants, Gang Ra.
Since his arrest in 2011 and the confiscation of his passport, Wei has been living in Germany as of 2015, sharing news of the demolition via videos on his Instagram. The news follows the planned demolition of De Sarthe gallery last month, a renowned liberal institution in the heart of Beijing’s alternative suburban arts district, Caochangdi, who not only have a long standing association with Ai Weiwei but also commissioned the artist to design part of the gallery.