Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei hits out over Lego 'ban'
Artist Ai Weiwei has accused Lego of "censorship and discrimination" after the company refused to let him to use its bricks in a new exhibition.
Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei
Ai used Lego last year to create portraits of 175 dissident figures who had been jailed or exiled, from Nelson Mandela to Edward Snowden, on the site of the former Alcatraz prison near San Francisco. He had planned a similar work about political dissidents for the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne
However, a bulk order placed by the Melbourne museum was rejected by Lego. The Chinese artist said the Danish company told the museum its bricks could not be used for artworks containing "any political, religious, racist, obscene or defaming statements".
A Lego city of Chicago, USA
Referring to The Lego Movie's slogan "everything is awesome", Ai wrote on social media,
"Lego is giving us the definition of what is 'political', and all the big corporations are telling us what to love or hate. That is awesome. Lego's refusal to sell its product to the artist is an act of censorship and discrimination."
Ai Weiwei sculptures displayed by the Pulitzer Fountain on Fifth Avenue in New York
Toymaker Lego said that while it respects any individual's right to free, creative expression, it never sold directly to anyone if it knew that its bricks would be used to make a political statement.
F Grass by Ai Weiwei, in Vancouver
The artist has since been deluged with offers of Lego from supporters.
An installation of Chairs by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is known for his criticism of the Chinese government as well as for being one of the world's leading contemporary artists. He was arrested during a crackdown on political activists in China in 2011 and was released without charge after 81 days. The Chinese authorities kept his passport for four years, but it was returned earlier this year.
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(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
