He's been photographed dropping vases before -- but that doesn't mean it's OK for just anyone to do it. Ai Weiwei has made a name for himself by not only creating visually arresting and thought-provoking art, but for his uncompromising activism in opposition to the Chinese government.
Ai was on the receiving end of a protest this weekend when a local Miami artist smashed a "color basis" vase valued at $1 million, part of the artist's "According to what?" exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) in the city. The exhibition also included photographs of the Chinese artist dropping what appears to be a Han Dynasty urn.
Maximo Caminero, a Miami-based artist, was named in a police affidavit as the defendant. He told an officer that his act was a protest against the gallery's decision to only display international art.
The police report states that Caminero picked up the vase before being advised to put it down by a museum official. He then dropped it "in protest." He was charged with criminal mischief.
Questionable protest
Ai, meanwhile, told CNN that he didn't have "much reaction" to the news, but said that he thought that a line should be drawn when it came to damaging public or private property as part of a protest.
"I can't have a show in Beijing but I cannot go to museums to break work in Beijing," he said in a phone interview.
"My work is basically forbidden to be shown in China ... The protest itself may be valid but to damage somebody's work to do that is questionable."
Ai said that he considered his work -- specifically the triptych which shows him dropping an antique urn -- to be "very different."
"My work belongs to me, it doesn't belong to the public and also it doesn't [belong to] somebody else."
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