Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition

The coffee table book 'Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition' focuses on the recent decade of art and activism by one of the most outspoken artists of our time and offers a comprehensive update of TASCHEN's monograph on Ai Weiwei. The book now covers 40 years of work, from the artist's exile in 1980s New York to his latest sculptures, films and installations championing human rights.

Ai Weiwei is known for much more than his art. As a champion of the right to free speech and against arbitrary state power, his actions reach far beyond the art world. A profound social and political commitment permeates his work: when he brings 1001 Chinese citizens from all classes and regions to Documenta 12, when he distributes more than 100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds across the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, when he creates a frieze of school bags in memory of the many children who fell victim to the tragedy of the Sichuan earthquake, or when he visits refugee camps around the world to draw attention to often ignored individual plights in his film Human Flow. In 2011, Ai was detained for 81 days by Chinese police for his relentless criticism of the authorities, and his passport was confiscated. Despite international protests, he did not get it back until 2015. Now that he is finally traveling outside China again, settling in Berlin and recently in Portugal, he has become a truly global artist whose work is always influenced by his activism and vice versa.

The book is a historical document, produced as the first in-depth monograph in close collaboration with the artist. Through sculptures based on Chinese traditions and craftsmanship after his return to China, to his latest works created in Europe: mosaics of toy cubes, films and installations championing human rights.

Specifications
Title: Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition
Authors: Roger M. Buergel, Alfred Weidinger
Publisher: TASCHEN
Format: 250 x 334 60 mm
Size: 736 pages
Weight: 4.03 kg
Language: English, French, German
Material: Hardcover
ISBN: 9783754404270
Release Feb. 6, 2026

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