Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Let's start.

We have a lot of dogs and cats.

Out of the 40 cats, one knows how to open doors.

Where did this intelligence come from?

All the other cats watch us open the door.

So I was thinking, if I had never met this cat that can open doors,

I wouldn't know that cats could open doors.

The biggest difference between people and cats

is that cats will open the door,

but they will never close it behind them.

Oh, it's right here. I was looking for this hat.

Here we call it being an artist within the system.

But he's not. He's...

just himself, you know.

It's too cold in here.

But the light in this room is great.

- Don't you want to connect them? - Not yet.

I'm getting ready for two shows right now.

One is for the autumn show at Tate Nodern in London.

The other is for the São Paulo Biennale.

At this point, my head is empty. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I've been asking everyone around me for good ideas.

Actually, I have very little involvement in the production of my works.

I mainly make the decisions.

I prefer to have other people implement my ideas.

Or maybe I just have an idea, and someone else can use it.

I'm just his hands.

I'm like an assassin.

He says to me, "Here's some money. Go and kill this person."

I wouldn't ask him, "Why do you want him killed?"

That's silly. You just get it done!

We're just hired assassins.

When I eat, there isn't enough for the rest of you!

He's OK just eating buns.

He always feels art is not a big deal.

He may say, "What the hell is art?"

I think that his role here...

has surpassed that of an artist alone.

Describe yourself.

I consider myself...

more of a...

more of a chess player.

Ny opponent makes a move, I make a move.

Now I'm waiting for my opponent to make the next move.

Every year I do more than 1 00 interviews with the international press.

Same goes for Chinese media.

Chinese critics are typically mild but skilful.

They don't directly criticise the Communist Party or the government.

But Ai Weiwei is different.

He uses the most aggressive words to point out societys dark side.

Hello?

Are you the Sichuan Post-Quake Reconstruction office?

Yes.

We want to know more details about the student death toll.

The death toll is confidential.

What do you want this name list for? Are you some kind of American spy?

At the time, I was at home taking care of my child.

That was before it got shut down.

A lot of people were reading it.

One day I saw an entry he wrote

about investigating the student deaths from the May 12th quake.

He said he was seeking volunteers to help him do this work.

How many casualties were there?

About 94.

The volunteers went to every town

to ask parents and schools for the names of the dead.

You couldn't even call it tofu construction, it's the dregs of the tofu!

A group of parents came together to have a meal,

but they said it was an illegal assembly!

They detained five of us.

Did the authorities know you were Ai Weiwei's people?

They suspected it, but we dodged the question.

We said we were all volunteers, there on our own.

The way I see it, we weren't there as anybody's people.

We were just doing the same work.

That's what I've always thought.

It's like we were doing the same work as Ai Weiwei.

I think it concerns every one of us.

It's not just about art. It's also about life.

Blogs and the Internet are great inventions for our time

because they give ordinary people an opportunity

to change public opinion.

There was a group of people like him in Beijing...

like Ai Weiwei, long ago, in the Cultural Revolution.

Their parents were Party members, very famous ones.

But their fathers were labelled as Rightists in 1 957.

They feared nothing, and said whatever they felt.

He's like his father, the poet Ai Qing.

He was also an opinionated and romantic artist.

Artists can easily offend others.

When my father was 1 8, he went to Paris to paint.

He came back when he was 20.

He was captured by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Party.

They kept him in prison for many years.

By the time he got out of prison, he was a famous poet.

After that, he joined the Communist Revolution.

He went through 40 checkpoints on his way to Yan'an.

That's idealism.

At any checkpoint, he could have been thrown in jail, or killed.

During political struggles,

my father was always the biggest enemy of the people.

There were political actions in every corner of China.

No one could escape it.

One time during a demonstration, I remember,

someone used brushes and ink,

the kind we do calligraphy with,

to splatter my dad's face.

His whole face was covered in black ink.

Another time someone used a gun to beat his back.

Things like that happened many times.

Weiwei saw all of this.

Ny dad tried to kill himself many times.

These are experiences I cannot erase.

Before that trip to Chengdu, we'd never met the activist Tan Zuoren.

We just heard he was also investigating the students' deaths.

If a society, when faced with such a big natural disaster,

has no one who speaks up...

I think maybe I'd rather not be a part of it.

Where's Lao Na Ti Hua?

By the time we got to Chengdu, it was already midnight.

They took us to grab a bite. We had the local snack lao ma ti hua.

Thank you for your hard work.

Then we were followed back to our hotel. But Weiwei handled this his own way.

He went over to the police car and just asked them, "Are you following me?"

You looking for me? You looking for me?

What are you doing?

Nothing, I'm just asking if you're following me.

- I don't know you. I'll call the police! - Go ahead, call the police!

Notherfuckers.

They didn't look right to me.

ID cards! Take your ID cards.

At about three o'clock we heard, "Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

The sound of banging on the door was incredibly loud and terrifying.

I said, "What the fuck! Who is fucking knocking at this hour?"

I started to swear like that.

They shouted, "Police!"

So I had to stop. The police can give you a lot of trouble.

Who's there?

Police.

What police?

From the local station.

Why are local cops knocking on doors so late?

- Inspection. - Inspecting what?

Identity papers.

Who allows you to check IDs at this hour?

We'll explain things after you open the door.

Open the door.

The police kicked the door open.

This young cop wanted to show off.

He went up and punched Ai Weiwei.

- You're hitting me? - Who saw it?

- Is this how police officers behave? - Who hit you? Where's the wound?

- How did my clothes get torn? - You did it yourself!

- I tore my own clothes and beat myself? - That's right, it's the only explanation.

Because I didn't see anyone hit you.

Officer 7998, I'm taking your badge number!

Where are my five assistants that you detained?

I just want to know where they are.

I don't know, and I'm not sure I can find out.

Where are they being detained?

It's not that they are being detained, exactly...

You took them away! You can't say that you don't know where they are.

It hurts so much. It's like my head is splitting open.

It was like this back in China, too, but I thought if I waited it would get better.

Fuck you, Notherland.

The End

When he was unexpectedly hit in Sichuan,

I was terrified.

It was something I never imagined.

For us, life and work are mixed together.

That's because our home and our work are in the same place.

So being together, getting along for so many years, 16 years...

it's pretty special.

Collecting antiques was one of our father's hobbies.

This love for antiques eventually became a part of Weiwei's art.

He started smashing pottery.

Things from our past often influence our future.

There are reasons behind some things.

Did your family influence you?

I don't really think my family influenced me very much.

Could we visit your mother to ask her about you?

That wouldn't be good. She's too old. How she sees me isn't who I really am.

Here's an idea! Just find a random person to be my mum.

It'll be fine. Just ask about her own son, then write my name instead.

I could write a contract.

It'll say, "I authorise you to interview any random mother."

Then you can say it's an artwork of mine.

- Weiwei? - Yes?

- Look. We have guests today. - Hello, hello.

How's your head?

Well, it was treated, and now it's fine.

I'm very lucky.

I almost died.

How does it feel, seeing all these articles about your son?

I feel very proud.

Because he speaks out for the average citizen.

I wish he would just be purely an artist.

One person cannot solve the problems of the whole country.

But if everyone ignores the country's problems,

what will happen?