When Ai Weiwei is your guest
Ai Weiwei - known for his art and activism made the international headlines when he “disappeared” in 2011. At the time he was held in custody for 81 days without charge by the Chinese government.
His projects include organizing a trip for 1,001 Chinese to travel to Kassel for the Documenta 2007, to spreading over 100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds on the floor of London’s Tate Modern, to taking over New York’s public space with installations, or filming a documentary on the global refugee crisis in over 23 countries.
My tactic is to always create a problem first, and then I find solutions for it. I’ve been lucky. I created a lot of problems and I solved them successfully. - Ai Weiwei
And this week he was in Zurich to receive the Frank-Schirrmacher Prize at the University of Zurich.
I didn’t think twice and texted one of his employees asking if he would be available for a TV-interview on CNNMoney Switzerland. A few days later, Ai Weiwei was standing in our newsroom.
32 Likes, 4 Comments - Tanya König (@tanyakoenigcnn) on Instagram: "Do you recognize him? This is @aiww when he arrived @cnnmoneyswitzerland today. I had the pleasure..."
Ai Weiwei clearly doesn’t mind being asked any question. This makes him a great interview partner. I asked him if he was a good businessman, if he asks questions of who buys his art and where they got their money from. He replied:
I try not to know who buys my art. Every artist has a responsibility about what they are making and where to show it, but who to sell it to? This is a capitalist society. If you’re so precise, then maybe you just make works for yourself. - Ai Weiwei
He also told me why he has stopped doing architecture projects in China, why he funds all his movie projects himself first, and why the U.S.-China trade war won’t stay confined to trade.
The interview can be watched here or on Youtube:
Behind the scenes
Ai Weiwei is online when awake. He takes selfies and photos and is constantly tweeting. Here are some behind-the-scenes impressions:
486 Likes, 7 Comments - Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Instagram
Before we started the interview, make-up artist Sophia Singh rushed into the studio for some final touch-ups. Ai Weiwei was very impressed by how caring she was. I asked, if he wanted some powder too and he refused and said: “I have permanent make-up.” Ai Weiwei is a very funny person too, besides being taken very seriously by many.
331 Likes, 3 Comments - Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Instagram
It was definitely one of my hightlight interviews of this year and worth watching.
3 Likes, 1 Comments - Tanya König (@tanyakoenigcnn) on Instagram: "This is how it looks behind the scenes with Ai Weiwei. The artist loves to capture every moment...."
And I told Hannah Wise in the live show about the Ai Weiwei segment:
I’d like to thank everyone involved in making this one happen. From bringing extra chairs as Samuel Stefan did, to the Contentpark team for their professionalism with director Matthes Schaller, Ian Stewart and make-up artist Sophia Singh, to the team at CNNMoney Switzerland: Frédéric Lelièvre, Michael J. Agovino, Andreas Schaffner and Ellen Schiffmann.