(Image via Fadwebsite.)

UPDATE: Time magazine’s done a great story on this.  Read here.)

For those of you who haven’t heard about this, Ai Wei Wei’s one of China’s most well-known contemporary artists, most famous for being the designer of the Bird’s Nest Stadium, showcased in the Beijing Olympics.

You may have seen his work at Art Stage Singapore – he created the colossal installation “Through” from the remnants of a demolished Qing dynasty house.

(Image via Snippets from the Manila Art Scene.)

He’s spoken out against the Olympics, he’s been beaten up by the police for testifying regarding casualties in the Sichuan Earthquake, he’s been placed under house arrest and this January he had his newly built Shanghai studio destroyed by authorities, while visitors to the Tate Modern were ooh-ing and aah-ing over his “Sunflower Seeds” exhibition, consisting of 100 million handpainted porcelain sunflower seeds.

This February, amidst the government crackdown on pro-democracy activists, he cryptically posted the following on his Twitter account: “I didn’t care about jasmine at first, but people who are scared by jasmine sent out information about how harmful jasmine is often, which makes me realize that jasmine is what scares them the most. What a jasmine!”

On 3 April, government agents arrested Ai at the Beijing airport and seized papers and computers from his studio. That’s pretty much all we know right now – no word on where he is or how he’s doing.

There’s a petition to release Ai on Change.org, started by twelve leading figures in the international arts world, including the directors of the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Museum. You can sign it here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/call-for-the-release-of-ai-weiwei?alert_id=ZntTBqdKpo_IZtByZSTro&me=aa

I personally believed that we should be supporting the release of all the activists, given that many of them have played a more instrumental part in this movement than Ai himself. However, given the Chinese government’s pride in its artists, and its new emphasis on showcasing them – they’ve recently announced plans for the world’s biggest art gallery – their arrest of Ai is particularly egregious.

Of course, I’m aware there are plenty of our readers who would prefer not to sign the petition. I suppose I can understand – after all, if he gets executed, the market value of his works will skyrocket.

Your choice.