One of the world's most-famous artists is having an
important retrospective in the Smithsonian, but Ai Weiwei can't attend because
the authorities in Beijing won't give him back his passport. He talks to TIME
about his art, his activism and the pervasiveness of China's snooping on its
own citizens
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s best-known living artists —
and political activists. As such, he is constantly at odds with the government
of his homeland, the People’s Republic of China. The contentiousness has been
highlighted by Beijing’s refusal to return Ai’s passport to him, making it
impossible for him to travel to the U.S. for the Oct. 7 opening of a major
retrospective on his art at the Hirshhorn Museum, part of the Smithsonian
Institute in Washington, D.C. It was confiscated — illegally, he says — after
he was detained for more than 80 days last year during a crackdown on dissent.