Hong Kong Artists to March for Ai Weiwei
China’s detention of artist and activist Ai Weiwei has elicited greater awareness of his work and sympathy for his causes world-wide, especially among the art crowd. Even in Hong Kong — where many in the art community remain wary of his high-profile and confrontational style – some have decided to take a stand.
A group in the Hong Kong arts community, the International Association of Art Critics-Hong Kong, sent a letter of protest to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang and the director of the China Liaison office, Peng Qinghua. The letter condemns the “arbitrary detention of intellectuals and critics in mainland China,” including Ai Weiwei, and cites the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a writ adopted by the United Nations in 1948 that is generally considered the cornerstone of international human-rights law.
And many artists plan to turn out to support the Sunday march planned by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, a non-profit group known for its commemorations of the June 4, 1989, crackdown (in Chinese only: http://www.alliance.org.hk/). It starts at 11 a.m. at the Western District Police Station and will proceed to the China Liaison Office in Kennedy district.
This was bound to happen and will only snowball as Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most creative and celebrated minds! He has far too many supporters and admirers to allow this to happen to him.