Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Takes on LEGO and Wins

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist known worldwide for his politically charged art installations, has long butted heads with his country’s government over its censorship policies and human-rights violations. Now, he’s facing resistance of a different kind. The Danish toy company Lego refused to send the artist its plastic bricks to use in a project for the National Gallery of Victoria, explaining that it “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works.”

In an Instagram post on Friday, Ai announced the company’s rejection of his request, and suggested that it’s related to the recently announced opening of a new Legoland in Shanghai. In subsequent posts, he blasted the company’s decision and questioned their ethics: “Lego’s refusal to sell its product to the artist is an act of censorship and discrimination,” he wrote. Commenters on his posts expressed disdain for Lego (“Will never see Lego the same way again after their decision,” said one), and others suggested that Ai’s supporters send him all the bricks he needs.

Ai answered his admirers’ calls by beginning to organize Lego-collection points in different cities: The first is a parked car, where fans can insert their Legos through the sunroof. Another car has been positioned in front of the Martin-Gropius-Bau, an art museum in Berlin; a third will be installed later this week at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, where Ai’s exhibition will open in December. He plans to announce the new locations on Twitter and Instagram, and his studio is also taking donations by mail.

Simply brilliant.

The Legos Ai receives will be part of two works for an exhibition titled Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei, which will explore the concept of freedom of speech. According to The New York Times, one piece will re-envision his 1995 photo triptych “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” and the other will feature 20 Lego portraits of Australian proponents of Internet freedom and human rights.  

So why is this important? Many people have noted that of all the companies to pick on, LEGO is certainly all the way down the list when it comes to extreme corruption, fraud and human rights violations. This is undoubtably true, but it’s also besides the point.

The reason this caught on is precisely because people across the world feel an increased sense of hopelessness and powerlessness. They feel as if they have no political voice via traditional means, and that this move by LEGO was further proof of endless corporate deference to government power (in this case China’s), in order to preserve a revenue stream. Rightly or wrongly, this is how people feel and the protest against LEGO isn’t really about LEGO, but rather about percolating anger and disillusionment with the undemocratic, global corporate state.

More importantly, what Ai Weiwei and his supporters have brilliantly accomplished, is to take a perceived slight perpetrated against them and turn it into something more powerful than the original art installation ever could have been. Think about it for a moment. Had LEGO sold the blocks to Ai as desired, the project may have very well been significant, but imagine how much more potent and creative it will be now, if it ends up being constructed entirely of donated LEGO blocks from around the world.

It makes me think of that classic John Lennon quote:

When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.

This is precisely the case, and in my view, the only way “we the people” will transform this world into a decent, humane place, is by fighting the status quo with creative, artistic non-violence and humor. Ai Weiwei is a genius at doing this, and we should all learn from his example.

Meanwhile, as world leaders seem intent on marching us all to our doom in World War III, we must remember that the battle is not American citizens versus Chinese citizens or Russian citizens, but rather the global populace against a very tiny, corrupt global oligarchy. Our beef is not with each other, but with a status quo that has outlived its usefulness and continues to bail itself out at our expense.

Finally, if you never saw the Ai Weiwei documentary, “Never Sorry,” I highly recommend it. It’s available on Netflix. Here’s the trailer: