Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign
Encyclopedia
Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign is a "guerilla methods" of political street art protest against the PRC government's secret detention of world famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
since April 3rd 2011, organized by Hong Kong artists and art supporters, calling for the immediate release of the artist. Various slogans such as "Free Ai Weiwei", and "Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei" accompany stenciled images of Ai are being applied onto street pavements, pedestrian overpass, and building walls all over Hong Kong.
artist using graffiti art to promote the awareness of Ai Weiwei
among the island's population, by spray-painting Ai's image, with the slogan:"Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei", onto street pavement and building wall using a stencil, resulting in Hong Kong police serious crime squad conducting a criminal damage investigation against her, thus turning her into an "inadvertent counterculture icon." Tangerine's comment towards the police:
On April 23 2011, about 2000 people marched through Hong Kong
streets to support Ai Weiwei, many of them carrying placards with images copying Tangerine's graffiti art, with many similar images being spray-painted on building walls, to protest against police heavy handed action.
support Ai Weiwei accounts, and a PLA
spokesperson said they would "reserve its legal rights to act".
protesters for using chalk to write "Free Ai Weiwei" slogans on the street, when more than 100 protesters took part in "All Hong Kong support graffiti" activities and were encouraged to create graffiti on the street with chalk. The chairman of League of Social Democrats
, Andrew To
commented that the Hong Kong government is over sensitive and nervous about the graffiti that it behaves like birds that are frighten of sling shots (Chinese:驚弓之鳥). The two protesters were being released the next day on bail.
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008...
since April 3rd 2011, organized by Hong Kong artists and art supporters, calling for the immediate release of the artist. Various slogans such as "Free Ai Weiwei", and "Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei" accompany stenciled images of Ai are being applied onto street pavements, pedestrian overpass, and building walls all over Hong Kong.
Tangerine
Tangerine, a 22 years old female student artist, was the first Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
artist using graffiti art to promote the awareness of Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008...
among the island's population, by spray-painting Ai's image, with the slogan:"Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei", onto street pavement and building wall using a stencil, resulting in Hong Kong police serious crime squad conducting a criminal damage investigation against her, thus turning her into an "inadvertent counterculture icon." Tangerine's comment towards the police:
On April 23 2011, about 2000 people marched through Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
streets to support Ai Weiwei, many of them carrying placards with images copying Tangerine's graffiti art, with many similar images being spray-painted on building walls, to protest against police heavy handed action.
Projected graffiti
An artist calling himself Cpak Ming projected a giant stenciled Ai Weiwei image onto police, army, and various government building walls, and photographs of these images were being uploaded onto FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
support Ai Weiwei accounts, and a PLA
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
spokesperson said they would "reserve its legal rights to act".
Victoria park 1001 chairs protest
On May 2nd 2011, Lee Cheuk-yan of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China organized about 200 Hong Kong protesters in Victoria park using chairs to create a formation represents the Chinese word "prisoner" (Chinese:囚), and they then broke through the chair barrier, "as though they were breaking down the one-party prison. ""Love the Future"
To rally citizens to protest the detention of Ai Weiwei, online commentators have taken up the slogan "Love the Future," (爱未来) which both resembles and sounds similar to Ai's name (艾未未). Calls range from the energetic ("To love the future is to love yourself. Fill the microblogs with love. Fill the motherland with love. Donate your love to the future of the motherland.") to the despondent ("I really don't dare believe that in this society, even love for the future can disappear").Arrests
On 8 May 2011, Hong Kong police arrested two League of Social DemocratsLeague of Social Democrats
The League of Social Democrats or LSD is a radical pro-democratic political party in Hong Kong. Its declared purpose is to "take a clear-cut stand to defend the interests of the grassroots"...
protesters for using chalk to write "Free Ai Weiwei" slogans on the street, when more than 100 protesters took part in "All Hong Kong support graffiti" activities and were encouraged to create graffiti on the street with chalk. The chairman of League of Social Democrats
League of Social Democrats
The League of Social Democrats or LSD is a radical pro-democratic political party in Hong Kong. Its declared purpose is to "take a clear-cut stand to defend the interests of the grassroots"...
, Andrew To
Andrew To
Andrew To is a member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council, Hong Kong. He is the chairman of League of Social Democrats since February 2010, succeeding Wong Yuk-man...
commented that the Hong Kong government is over sensitive and nervous about the graffiti that it behaves like birds that are frighten of sling shots (Chinese:驚弓之鳥). The two protesters were being released the next day on bail.