Ai Weiwei: New York 1983-1993

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. Beijing 1957; lives and works in Beijing) spent the years from 1983 to 1993 in New York. During this time, he took more than 10,000 black-and-white photographs of life in the American metropolis; when he returned to China, the pictures, mostly negatives, were in his luggage. After leaving them untouched for years, Ai made a selection of 226 photographs that were developed and shown at the Three Shadows Art Centre, Beijing, in 2010. These pictures are now on display at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, the first time they are shown in Germany; they are also presented in this illustrated book. For the young Ai Weiwei--today China's most famous contemporary artist--his long stay in the United States was a period that shaped his style and set the stage for his future career as an artist. He lived in a tiny apartment in New York's East Village and was an active member of the neighborhood's arts scene. In the 1980s, New York also promised Chinese artists freedo