Synopsis on 'Never Sorry' (A Documentary by Alyson Klayman)

NGMA Bangalore, Movie screening- (AI WEI WEI-Chinese artist and activist) documentary movie called NEVER SORRY by Alyson Klayman. The documentary is a visual and audio narrative that moves casually between the personal life of the artist and his professional work.  Famous mostly for his artistic contribution (artistic consultant on the project) to the ‘bird’s nest’ national stadium in Beijing, china.. there is more to this multi-talented artist/activist than what can be encapsulated in a movie. His works are exceptionally visual and conceptual.  His works are underlined with not just creativity but also strong questions about the use of the  government power in matters affecting the people of china, for example, his video document called Hua Lian Ba’er,  which is about the Siachen earthquake that aggravated its effects due to poor school infrastructure causing the death of numerous students. Not only this, but he also made an installation using back-packs called ‘remembering’, which is embedded with the message (describing the earthquake victim’s mother)‘she lived happily for seven years in this world’. His performance art – that has been photographed called ‘Han Dynasty’  where Ai Weiwei  is seen breaking a relic urn, tries to redefine the history and culture connotations  of china and at the same time acknowledging it. Accepting the old but breaking away from it, to make way for the new. His Neolithic-culture pot with the coca-cola logo on it, attempts to question global, cultural and economical contexts.. the value of artistic & cultural commodities in a capitalistic economy. His ‘Sunflower Seeds’ exhibition was about life-sized sunflower seed husks handcrafted in porcelain. Each one of these seeds have been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the China. Rather than being industrially produced, they are a collective effort of hundreds of skilled hands. The 100 million seeds are laid on the floor to form an experiential – visual landscape. Since porcelain is china’s most prized export

, Ai WeiWei with this work invites us to explore the subject matter of ‘made in china’ phenomenon.  He also maintains(maintained) a blog of his writings, interviews and digital rants. His ability to slither through the visual arts, architecture, design, performance art and socio-political activism is astounding!