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# Hyperallergic on Al Jazeera Talking About Ai Weiwei
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-ai-weiwei-al-jazeera/
- Published: 2011-06-24T15:05:14.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:02:45.000Z
- Description: On Wednesday, I was invited to Al Jazeera to give a context for Ai Weiwei's arrest and eventual release. I felt it was important to point out that the Chinese have been using contemporary art and architecture for years [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/09/artseen/is-contemporary-architecture-a-pr-pa
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: News, #image-position-hidden, Ai Weiwei, China, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

On Wednesday, I was invited to Al Jazeera to give a context for Ai Weiwei’s arrest and eventual release. I felt it was important to point out that the Chinese have been [using contemporary art and architecture for years](http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/09/artseen/is-contemporary-architecture-a-pr-panacea-for-autocrats?ref=hyperallergic.com) as a propaganda tool.

Thankfully, since this aired on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, [three](https://hyperallergic.com/liu-zhenggang-hu-mingfen-released/) of Ai Weiwei’s four imprisoned colleagues have been freed.

The video about is the edited version and the complete original interview is posted [here](http://hyperallergic.tumblr.com/post/6808525611?ref=hyperallergic.com).