Alison Klayman

There’s nary a paintbrush to be seen in this document of the Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, named by ArtReview as the most influential artist in the world. Ai’s big-concept projects include a room filled with tens of millions of hand-painted faux sunflower seeds, crafted out of porcelain; the phenomenal Bird’s Nest, the Olympic stadium in Beijing; and a spreadsheet documenting each of the more than five thousand students buried alive in shoddy public buildings after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Whether tweeting an upraised middle finger to Chinese officials, getting beaten by police, or spelling out a poem with five thousand backpacks on the front of a Munich museum, Ai transmutes protest into a mind-expanding, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally funny form of expression. With perseverance and a steady hand, director Alison Klayman captures the passion and commitment of the man who best represents a China at war with its conscience. Presented by the University of Missouri (JS)… (altro)