Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing. He studied animation at the Beijing Film Academy from 1978 to 1981, then at Parsons School of Design, New York, in 1982. He returned to Beijing in 1984, and lives part of the time in Berlin.
Ai is an architect, sculptor, photographer and designer. He is also an activist, a supporter of human rights who is openly critical of the record of the Chinese government. In collaboration with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, he contributed as an artistic consultant to the design of the National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. His recent solo exhibitions include: Bare Life, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; Wo ist die Revolution?, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Ai Weiwei: Unbroken, Gardiner Museum, Toronto – all in 2019.
In 2018 there was RAIZ, OCA, São Paulo, Brazil; Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte, Brasil; Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro; Ai Weiwei: Life Cycle, Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Cao/Humanity, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles; Fan-Tam, Mucem, Marseille, France; Inoculation, Corpartes, Santiago, Chile.
Group exhibitions include Mobile Immobile at the Archives Nationales of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, France; 2050, A Brief History of the Future, National Taiwan Museum of Art; Beating Around the Bush, Bonnefantemuseum, Maastricht. And in 2018, Ai took part in the 21st Sydney Biennale in Australia.