Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and dissident known for powerful conceptual works that challenge authority while bridging the contemporary world with traditional Chinese culture. Born in Beijing in 1957, he works across photography, sculpture, film, performance, and large-scale installation to address themes of freedom, censorship, mass consumption, individuality, and cultural memory. His outspoken activism has drawn severe retaliation from the Chinese government, including an 81-day imprisonment in 2011 and the razing of his studio in 2018; he left China in 2015.

Among his most celebrated works are Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995), which confronts ideas of heritage and value, and Sunflower Seeds (2010), an installation of 100 million hand-painted porcelain seeds created by Chinese artisans for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Ai studied at the Beijing Film Academy and Parsons School of Design, served as an artistic consultant on Beijing’s 2008 Olympic “Bird’s Nest” stadium, and has exhibited internationally in cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Beijing. His work is held in major museum collections including MoMA, the Tate, the Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, and LACMA, solidifying his status as one of the most influential and uncompromising artists of our time.