FREE Weiwei

Weiwei is avant-garde artist known for using his art and social media to expose the corruption and cover-ups of the Chinese Government.

He's best known for his help in the design of  Beijing’s Olympic stadium

One of his most famous works includes his Sunflower Seeds exhibition, - one hundred million porcelain "seeds," each individually hand-painted by 1,600 Chinese artisans-his comment on mass consumption.

He is also infamous for his enormous installation of 'Remembering.' - his powerful commentary on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.  The whole installation is made up of 9,000 colorful school backpacks. During the earthquake, hundreds of schools collapsed. Thousands of students lost their lives because the school buildings were not built earthquake proof - most likely because of mismanagement of the local authorities. ‘The tragedy of the deaths and the lives of the students was quickly covered-up and disappeared within the state propaganda and very soon everybody will forget everything.' The 9,000 school backpacks on the front of the museum represents the lost live of a kid.

Weiwei has been missing since being detained by Chinese authorities at Beijing Airport on April 3. His relatives have not heard from him since. Officials have yet to file any charges and China’s foreign ministry refuses to release details of his detention. His studio and financial assets have been sealed off.  You can visit the Free Weiwei facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Ai-Weiwei/153230404741363 or join the 70,000+followers on his twitter page