The Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign was a series of protests during the PRC government's secret detention of Chinese artist

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

for 81 days in 2011, organised by Hong Kong artists and art supporters. Various slogans calling for the immediate release of the artist such as "Free Ai Weiwei", and "Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei" accompany stencilled images of Ai were applied onto pavements, pedestrian overpass, and building walls all over Hong Kong, and similar posters and signs were displayed worldwide.

Forms

Internet

"Love the Future" () was a popular protest slogan because it is a pun on Ai's name. Chinese internet users posted many variations based on this theme. Posts for the internet campaign were removed relentlessly by state censors.

Stencilled graffiti

Tangerine, a 22-year-old student artist, was the first Hong Kong artist using graffiti art to promote the awareness of

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:

Art Citizens / "Love the Future" art exhibition

A group named Art Citizens (藝術公民), formed by Hong Kong visual artist

Kacey Wong Kacey Wong (born 1970) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong visual artist and educator – formerly Assistant Professor at the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wong has received the Hong Kong Contemporary Arts Award by the Hong ...

, rallied some 2,000 people from the artistic community to march for Ai on 23 April. The group held a month-long exhibition that opened on 26 May named "Love the Future" (愛未來) showing works of over 50 artists.

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 Facebook support Ai Weiwei accounts, and a PLA spokesperson said they would "reserve its legal rights to act".

1001 chairs protest

On 2 May 2011,

Lee Cheuk-yan Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the Manufac ...

of the

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China ( zh, link=no, t=香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會; abbr. ; ) was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British col ...

organised about 200 Hong Kong protesters in

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

using chairs to create a formation represents the Chinese word "prisoner" (), and they then broke through the chair barrier, "as though they were breaking down the one-party prison. "

Arrests

On 8 May 2011, Hong Kong police arrested two

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliame ...

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

Andrew To Andrew To Kwan-hang (; born 7 February 1966) is a Hong Kong politician and activist. He is the former chairman of the League of Social Democrats and former member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council. Early life, education and student activis ...

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 (). The two protesters were being released the next day on bail."塗鴉案首拘人本港緊跟中央路線及成了驚弓之鳥"
. Sina Corporation, 9 May 2011

References

External links

Free Ai Weiwei.orgfollow the campaign to free Ai Weiwei (part 2)
{{Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei Graffiti in Hong Kong Political protests in Hong Kong History of Hong Kong Protests in China Political art