Daily Art Nag for April 6, 2011: One free, one not

photo: Agence France-Presse

from the BBC


China artist Ai Weiwei stopped from boarding flight

Prominent Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been stopped by the authorities from leaving the Chinese capital, Beijing, reports say.

There has been no contact with him since, and no comment from the police. One of his assistants told the BBC he had been held by border guards as he tried to get on a flight to Hong Kong.  She says police have searched his Beijing home, which is also his studio.

More than 20 dissidents and activists have been held in the past weeks.  China's authorities appear on edge over calls for a so-called Jasmine Revolution, partly inspired by pro-democracy movements in the Middle East.

Read more here, here, and here


Other Jabs:

Rabih Mroue, the Lebanese artist starting a creative rebellion
by Laura Allsop and CNN

Theatre director, visual artist, actor, writer: there are many feathers to Rabih Mroue's cap.  The Lebanese artist, whose performances, video works and installations deal with Lebanon's troubled history, is currently enjoying increasing visibility on the world's stage.

With two exhibitions currently in Europe (one in London and one in Sweden), Mroue is gaining more and more admirers, though cinephiles may already know him from his role in 2008 film "Je Veux Voir," in which his character traverses Beirut's destroyed neighborhoods with French actress Catherine Deneuve, following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

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