Since 2008, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has become a household name in the United States and around the world. Celebrated for both his creativity and his activism—and the unique place where they meet—Ai Weiwei has led the fight against censorship, shed light on the international refugee crisis, exposed government corruption, and more.
“Literature is a place where we can construct new realities together, but unless the literature available to us is representative, those new realities threaten to reconstruct the prejudice and discrimination of the world we live in,” says Ai Weiwei. The artist will share the stage with PEN America President and writer Andrew Solomon for an intimate conversation on life as a dissident, the impact of his celebrity status on his art, and new and renewed threats to artistic expression in both China and the United States.
This event is presented in collaboration with PEN America’s newest initiative, the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC). Recorded Live at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space.
