Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Ai Weiwei: Imprisoned for art
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Ai Weiwei: Imprisoned for art
In 2008, an earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed almost 90,000 people. Many were crushed when school buildings collapsed, exposing their poor construction quality.
To counter perceived government suppression of information, the artist Ai Weiwei made an artwork from 90 tonnes of steel bars salvaged from the schools' wreckage.
In 2011, Ai Weiwei was detained in harsh conditions for 81 days and banned from leaving China. While his official charge was tax evasion, his detention was widely viewed as a response to his activism. But the artwork, Straight, became a global sensation. Ai Weiwei tells the story to Ben Henderson.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Ai Weiwei in front of his artwork, Straight. Credit: Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images)
View all episodes
By BBC World Service
4.5
887887 ratings
In 2008, an earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed almost 90,000 people. Many were crushed when school buildings collapsed, exposing their poor construction quality.
To counter perceived government suppression of information, the artist Ai Weiwei made an artwork from 90 tonnes of steel bars salvaged from the schools' wreckage.
In 2011, Ai Weiwei was detained in harsh conditions for 81 days and banned from leaving China. While his official charge was tax evasion, his detention was widely viewed as a response to his activism. But the artwork, Straight, became a global sensation. Ai Weiwei tells the story to Ben Henderson.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Ai Weiwei in front of his artwork, Straight. Credit: Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images)
More shows like Witness History
View all
In Our Time
5,426 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
369 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,807 Listeners
Global News Podcast
7,657 Listeners
History Extra podcast
3,173 Listeners
Great Lives
483 Listeners
Business Daily
519 Listeners
Science In Action
345 Listeners
More or Less: Behind the Stats
897 Listeners
Discovery
971 Listeners
World Business Report
289 Listeners
Lives Less Ordinary
585 Listeners
Newshour
1,041 Listeners
The Life Scientific
239 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
831 Listeners
The History Hour
587 Listeners
Unexpected Elements
353 Listeners
The Inquiry
754 Listeners
CrowdScience
476 Listeners
Newscast
648 Listeners
Evil Genius with Russell Kane
370 Listeners
Elis James and John Robins
319 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
2,988 Listeners
Sport's Strangest Crimes
68 Listeners
Uncanny
621 Listeners
Dua Lipa: At Your Service
1,002 Listeners
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
548 Listeners
Believe in Magic
611 Listeners
The Explanation
25 Listeners
The Global Story
142 Listeners
Miss Me?
283 Listeners
The History Podcast
25 Listeners
Rory Stewart: The Long History of...
69 Listeners
Havana Helmet Club
4 Listeners