WeiweiCam

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WeiweiCam is a self- monitoring project by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei that went online on April 3, 2012, one year after he was arrested by Chinese authorities at Beijing Airport .

When Ai was released after 81 days in June 2011, he was ordered not to leave Beijing. He was also monitored 24 hours a day using 15 cameras installed around his home. According to the artist, this makes his house the best-guarded place in town. Ai then installed four cameras right in his house: one in his bedroom, one in the garden and two in his office. He made the live images available to the world public on his website. However, the authorities forced him to take the website offline again after 46 hours. During this time, more than 5.2 million internet users visited the site. Ai views his decision to self-policing as a symbolic way to increase the transparency of state trade in China.

In 2012 WeiweiCam was featured in What We Watch , an exhibition on internet art and surveillance at COFAspace Gallery, UNSW College of Fine Arts.

Until June 30, 2013, the WeiweiCam project was part of the exhibition Freedom! shown in the Kunstpalais Erlangen. In addition, visitors were able to contact the artist directly via Twitter .

As part of the NEUE WELTEN - Asia meets Europe meets Asia festival , the Viktring -Klagenfurt music forum, in cooperation with the cultural manager Manfred Paul Westphal, presented the WeiweiCam internet installation from July 13 to 28, 2013. In addition to the presentation of WeiweiCam, the Musikforum Exhibition of two singles from Ai Weiwei's new video music album The Devine Comedy shown exclusively in July 2013. The music videos Dumbass and Laoma Tihua shown in Klagenfurt reflect personal experiences in his captivity and his struggle for freedom and justice.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carol Vogel: " Ai Weiwei Takes His Surveillance Worldwide ". In: The New York Times , April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  2. ^ " Orwell, Kafka and Ai Weiwei ". In: The Economist , June 3, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012
  3. ↑ Tania Branigan: " Ai Weiwei installs studio webcams for supporters and security services ". In: The Guardian (UK), April 3, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  4. ↑ " Ai Weiwei makes statement on gov't voyeurism ", in: CBSNews (US), April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  5. ↑ " Ai's weiweicam Forced Offline After 46 hours ". In: China Digital Times (CN), April 4, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012
  6. ↑ " Ai Weiwei 'ordered to turn cameras off' ". BBC (UK) April 4, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012
  7. ↑ Marian Smith and Eric Baculinao: " After 5 million views in 2 days, China orders Ai Weiwei to turn off webcams ". MSNBC (US) April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012
  8. ↑ " Ai Weiwei's #WeiweiCam ( Memento of 5 April 2012 at the Internet Archive )." Al Jazeera. Retrieved June 3, 2012
  9. ^ What We Watch: Net Art and Surveillance
  10. ^ What We Watch Exhibition
  11. ↑ http://www.kunstpalais.de/de/4/Ausstellungen.html?sid=5d8814e620d096e7063979d646e2e982 . Retrieved May 13, 2013