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| Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist and Provocateur, Is Given Back His Passport | Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist and Provocateur, Is Given Back His Passport |
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| HONG KONG — The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he was given back his passport on Wednesday after being barred from traveling abroad since he was detained in 2011 in Beijing. | HONG KONG — The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he was given back his passport on Wednesday after being barred from traveling abroad since he was detained in 2011 in Beijing. |
| “Today, I received a passport,” he wrote on Twitter and Instagram, along with a photograph that showed him holding the burgundy-colored Chinese travel document. | “Today, I received a passport,” he wrote on Twitter and Instagram, along with a photograph that showed him holding the burgundy-colored Chinese travel document. |
| Mr. Ai, who was a design consultant on the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing and exhibited his sculptural installation “Sunflower Seeds” at the Tate Modern in London, was detained in 2011 while trying to fly to Hong Kong from Beijing. He was held and interrogated for 81 days and later prosecuted on a charge of tax evasion. A court ruled against him and said his studio owed $2.4 million in penalties and back taxes. | |
| He has said the case against him was retaliation for his political activism, including his memorializing the thousands of children who died in schools that collapsed during a 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. | He has said the case against him was retaliation for his political activism, including his memorializing the thousands of children who died in schools that collapsed during a 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. |
| He said on Wednesday that the authorities had given him no indication of why he had received his passport now. “I only can say why not? They have promised for the past four years to give it back. Now finally they gave it to me,” he said in a telephone interview. “They always say it’s in the process but I just need to be patient.” | He said on Wednesday that the authorities had given him no indication of why he had received his passport now. “I only can say why not? They have promised for the past four years to give it back. Now finally they gave it to me,” he said in a telephone interview. “They always say it’s in the process but I just need to be patient.” |
| The confiscation of his passport meant that Mr. Ai was forced to organize his overseas exhibitions remotely, including shows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and at Alcatraz, the former prison in San Francisco Bay. | The confiscation of his passport meant that Mr. Ai was forced to organize his overseas exhibitions remotely, including shows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and at Alcatraz, the former prison in San Francisco Bay. |
| In addition to being unable to travel outside China, he was barred from holding shows in the country. His works were also removed from group exhibitions in Shanghai last year. But last month, he was allowed to open his first solo exhibition in China, an indication that the restrictions on him had begun easing. | In addition to being unable to travel outside China, he was barred from holding shows in the country. His works were also removed from group exhibitions in Shanghai last year. But last month, he was allowed to open his first solo exhibition in China, an indication that the restrictions on him had begun easing. |
| Mr. Ai, 57, said he planned to travel to Germany soon. He has a studio in Berlin, and his son, Ai Lao, 6, has lived in the country for the past year with the boy’s mother. He said he also planned to get a medical examination. He underwent emergency brain surgery there in 2009 after he was hit in the head by a police officer in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. | Mr. Ai, 57, said he planned to travel to Germany soon. He has a studio in Berlin, and his son, Ai Lao, 6, has lived in the country for the past year with the boy’s mother. He said he also planned to get a medical examination. He underwent emergency brain surgery there in 2009 after he was hit in the head by a police officer in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. |
| “I will apply for a visa, and I will take a trip as soon as I get a visa,” he said. | “I will apply for a visa, and I will take a trip as soon as I get a visa,” he said. |
| He said he was looking forward to arranging overseas art shows on site. Last week, the Royal Academy of Arts in London began a fund-raising drive to install eight of Mr. Ai’s reconstructions of dead trees. | He said he was looking forward to arranging overseas art shows on site. Last week, the Royal Academy of Arts in London began a fund-raising drive to install eight of Mr. Ai’s reconstructions of dead trees. |
| Mr. Ai also turned his years without a passport into an art project, filling the basket of his bicycle, which was locked outside his studio in the Caochangdi district of Beijing, with flowers each morning. He posted the photographs online, and then reposted images of flowers that supporters had directed to him. He noted that Wednesday was his 600th day of placing flowers since he began the project in 2013. | Mr. Ai also turned his years without a passport into an art project, filling the basket of his bicycle, which was locked outside his studio in the Caochangdi district of Beijing, with flowers each morning. He posted the photographs online, and then reposted images of flowers that supporters had directed to him. He noted that Wednesday was his 600th day of placing flowers since he began the project in 2013. |