here & now

It’s been five days now that our cover star Ai Weiwei has been arrested at Beijing airport and kept imprisoned at a secret location – not even his wife has been informed of where he is being held nor is she allowed to communicate with him. Yesterday, a brief statement by the government was released stating that Ai Weiwei was being charged with ‘financial crimes’ – not that this might have anything to do with the openly and frequently voiced criticism of the Chinese government by the outspoken artist and architect. ‘Ai Weiwei is doing things which no one else dares to – he’s come close to the red line of Chinese law,’ wrote the Global Times, a voice for the communist party. True, true, and that’s exactly what makes Ai Weiwei so very important.

Photography: Entrance to Ai Weiwei’s studio in Beijing – today (above) and in 2009 (below), with Mathieu Wellner, after conducting the interview for mono.kultur #22.