Here's How Ai Weiwei Is Fighting Lego's "Censorship"

After Lego refused to sell bricks to the controversial artist, he turned to the internet for help.

by Beckett Mufson

October 26, 2015, 3:15pm

"Everything is awesome "

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 24, 2015 at 3:22pm PDT

Over the weekend, beloved Chinese artist Ai Weiwei published a flurry of Instagram posts slamming The Lego Group for refusing to sell him a bulk order for a new exhibit in Australia. The public reaction was overwhelming and supportive of the artist, with many fans offering Weiwei their own (often sizable) Lego collections to use instead. Yesterday, Weiwei announced that he'd take them up on their offers with soon-to-be-announced Lego collection points, and that their bricks would be used in an artwork designed "to defend freedom of speech and 'political art.'"

Weiwei has been planning the Lego artwork since June for the upcoming Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei show to open in December 2015 show at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. In an Instagram post, Weiwei details the full statement National Gallery of Victoria received when trying to place the order, including their apparent embargo on, "any political, religious, racist, obscene or defaming statements." A proposal for a Lego set celebrating female supreme court justices was similarly condemned by the company in March, despite popular support.

In September Lego refused Ai Weiwei Studio's request for a bulk order of Legos to create artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria as "they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works." On Oct 21, a British firm formally announced that it will open a new Legoland in Shanghai as one of the many deals of the U.K.-China "Golden Era."

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 23, 2015 at 6:04am PDT

The art world has been slowly adopting Lego-as-medium over the last few years, in part thanks to Weiwei's work. Late last year, his show @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz turned Alcatraz into an art gallery with Lego portraits of international dissidents. Danish and Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson staged an interactive architecture exhibit on the High Line this summer which involved breaking down and rebuilding the New York City skyline with Lego bricks. Artist Mike Doyle used Legos to protest the war in Iraq. Ivan Lardschneider references the bricks in his emotionally-fraught sculpture I Shoot Myself, while Nathan Sawada uses them to sculpt a distorted vision of humanity, and Jan Vormann fills in crumbling architecture with the colorful toys. So, what's Lego's reason for the sudden blockage?

"In September Lego refused Ai Weiwei Studio's request for a bulk order of Legos to create artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria as 'they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works,'" reads Weiwei's original Instagram post. He then points out the October 21st announcement of an upcoming Lego theme park in Shanghai, which The Guardian speculates may have sparked Weiwei's social media outreach.

Lego is giving us the definition of what is "political",and all the big corporations are telling us what to love or hate. that awesome.

— 艾未未 Ai Weiwei (@aiww) October 25, 2015

After his Instagram and Twitter follwers began offering their own Legos for the project with the hashtag #LegosForWeiwei, the artist accepted, announcing that he'll establish collection sites across the world. This morning he posted a picture of a red car captioned, "The first Lego container." According to Instagram, this is just the first phase of projects inspired by the events, and Weiwei isn't known for going easy on institutions he holds accountable.

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:01pm PDT

The first Lego container .

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:04pm PDT

The morning droppings

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:06pm PDT

In September 2015 Lego refused to sell Ai Weiwei Studio a bulk order of Lego bricks for Ai's artworks to be exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on the basis of the works' "political" nature. Ai posted this notice on his Instagram on Friday, October 23rd. Lego's position triggered a torrent of outrage on social media against this assault on creativity and freedom of expression. Numerous supporters offered to donate Lego to Ai. In response to Lego's refusal and the overwhelming public response, Ai Weiwei has now decided to make a new work to defend freedom of speech and "political art". Ai Weiwei Studio will announce the project description and Lego collection points in different cities. This is the first phase of the coming projects.

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 10:37am PDT