A. de Tournemine et Borie, Skin of a Caterpillar (1870)

ai weiwei

— China Media Urges Ai Weiwei to Change Political Course After Show in Beijing: A Chinese newspaper with strong ties to the government has suggested that Ai Weiwei scrap his “previous politics” after the artist got his first solo exhibition in China. Since 2011, Ai has been denied a passport by the government because of his outspoken criticism of the ruling Communist Party. But on Saturday, he opened a show in Beijing, featuring a reassembled 400-year-old ancestral hall (the exhibition eschewed politics and was, of course, vetted by censors). The Global Times article reads: “If Ai Weiwei can stay away from his previous politics... and change from ‘pleasing the West,’ to ‘serving the masses,’ that would be a meaningful thing.” [Art Daily]