Ai Weiwei and the testimony of the catastrophe

Abstract

This work links Ai Weiwei's work with the concept of testimony, discusses the issue of violence and points out the artistic value of his work, inserted in his posture as an activist. Walter Benjamin is used to point out the ambiguity of police action and how through it the State maintains order and controls the actions of citizens. To illustrate this, we have chosen to analyse what happened to the artist in the episode related to the Chinese earthquake in 2008, in which about five thousand children died. There were reports that the material used for the construction was of poor quality and the authorities and construction companies were accused of embezzlement. The government refused to publish the names of the dead children and the artist mobilized to find out their names and published them on his blog. Later, the artist made several works so that the death of these children was not forgotten.