Ai Weiwei: Tate Modern spells out plea to China for release of Turbine Hall artist
Tate Modern has used the space on its northern facade usually devoted to promoting current exhibitions to display a simple message to the Chinese authorities: "release Ai Weiwei".
Ai Weiwei's Turbine Hall installation – entitled Sunflower Seeds – opened last October.
Within days the installation was closed to the public amid health fears about the effect of the dust created by people walking on the ceramic 'seeds'.
In a statement published on Tate's website on Monday, the gallery said: "We understand from news reports that the artist Ai Weiwei was arrested by the Chinese authorities yesterday [Sunday] as he tried to board a plane to Hong Kong. The artist remains uncontactable and his whereabouts are unknown.
"We are dismayed by developments that again threaten Weiwei's right to speak freely as an artist and hope that he will be released immediately."
On Friday Tate added the words "release Ai Weiwei" to the north-western corner of the former Bankside Power Station.
Comments
Share
The SE1 website is supported by people like you
Related forum discussions
- None found. Why not start a discussion?
Follow us
Email newsletter
For the latest local news and events direct to your inbox every Monday, you need our weekly email newsletter SE1 Direct.