Guggenhiem Foundation Leading Effort To Release Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, Chinese conceptual artist, is currently being detained by the Chinese government after being arrested while trying to board a flight to Hong Kong. Museums across America are voicing their outrage and are attempting to inform the public help to expedite his release. Ai Weiwei's art is known to be critical of the Chinese Government.

CAROL VOGEL - New York Times

An artistic adviser for the Olympic National Stadium in Beijing, Mr. Ai has clashed with the Chinese government before. After using his work to raise questions about how officials dealt with the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, in which thousands of schoolchildren were killed in their classrooms, he was beaten by the police in 2009 before he was scheduled to testify at the trial of Tan Zuoren, a writer and activist who was investigating the same issue.

Meanwhile plans are still proceeding to install a 12-piece sculpture, “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,’’ in Manhattan. Inspired by the fabled fountain-clock of the Yuanming Yuan, an 18th-century imperial retreat just outside Beijing, the work is scheduled to be displayed from May 2 and through July 15 at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Full article at nytimes.com