Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) yesterday said he would set up collection points to receive Lego block donations after he set off a social media storm on Sunday by accusing the Danish company of refusing a bulk order on political grounds.
The children’s toy became embroiled in controversy when Ai said its manufacturer had refused to supply him directly as it “cannot approve the use of Lego for political works.”
He used the bricks to create portraits of 175 political activists from around the world for an exhibition at Alcatraz prison in the US last year, and intended to create a Lego artwork for a new exhibition, titled “Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei” at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, that is set to open in December.
The museum’s curatorial team had placed a bulk order for Lego bricks, but it was rejected by the company last month.
Fans offered online to give him their Lego blocks, and a post on his Instagram account yesterday said: “Ai Weiwei has now decided to make a new work to defend freedom of speech and ‘political art.’ Ai Weiwei Studio will announce the project description and Lego collection points in different cities.”
One collection point, a car parked outside his studio in Beijing, was shown with some bricks on the sunroof.
His Instagram account also shows a picture of Lego bricks in a toilet bowl, with the caption “Everything is awesome” — the tagline of the Lego movie.
One supporter posting on Twitter told the manufacturer: “Your execs need to go watch the @TheLEGOMovie and think about what they’ve done.”
Another said: “I’m picturing a Lego sculpture of a giant Lego character shooting itself in the foot.”
Ai also said that UK-based Merlin Entertainments, which owns and operates Legoland theme parks, announced plans for a facility in Shanghai last week during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Britain.
Lego’s parent company, Kirkbi, owns a 30 percent stake in Merlin.
In a statement to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Denmark-based Lego said: “As a company dedicated to delivering great creative play experiences to children, we refrain — on a global level — from actively engaging in or endorsing the use of Lego bricks in projects or contexts of a political agenda. This principle is not new.”
Ai has been targeted by Chinese authorities for his advocacy of democracy and human rights as well as other criticisms of the government, including in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. He was detained for 81 days in 2011 and subsequently placed under house arrest, with his passport confiscated. The document was only returned in July, enabling him to travel to Europe.
An op-ed in the Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily, praised Lego for “refusing to be implicated in a political statement” and being motivated by “good business sense.”
It is not the first time Lego has rejected a proposal on the grounds of political connotations, reports say.
A Lego set of the four female members of the US Supreme Court was rejected by the Lego Ideas project, which allows members of the public to suggest new products, according to National Public Radio in the US.
The idea reportedly ran afoul of the company’s Acceptable Project Content, which states that projects related to “politics and political symbols, campaigns or movements” will not be accepted because they “do not fit our brand values.”
However, the company offers a model of the Lincoln Memorial and a White House set.
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in