Detention, Exile, and Free Expression

Chinese authorities detained Ai for eighty-one days in 2011 amid a wider crackdown, later imposing restrictions on his movement. His experiences of surveillance and confinement entered installations, films, and reconstructions.

After leaving China, Ai broadened his work to displacement, borders, and global failures of political responsibility. His critiques now address both Chinese state power and institutions in the democracies where he has lived and exhibited.