Straight by Ai Weiwei
The simplicity of the installation created a peacefulness that, when juxtaposed with the latent brutality of the context, gave the entire piece an ominous air
This immersive installation offered viewers large black boxes in which they were able to see, through small gaps, the scenes inside depicting Ai’s 81-day imprisonment following Straight ’s exposure of Chinese governmental corruption. Each box uses life-size fibreglass models to depict Ai Weiwei during his incarceration, sleeping, eating, washing; always confined within a space just 5ft by 12ft and always being watched by guards. These two works paint a very powerful image of China and the two halves of its communist government: on one hand, corruption and institutionalised deception. On the other, censorship and a barbaric suppression of liberties. For me, these works epitomise what contemporary political art strives to embody and showed that a single artwork can convey more meaningful and poignant statements than can be achieved through countless speeches or written reports.
Work by Toby Stinson
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