Ai Weiwei, Oscar Wilde, and the Art of Posing

Abstract

In April 2011, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was arrested at the airport in Beijing. To mark the first-year anniversary of his arrest, the artist decided to turn his own life into a form of performance art by installing cameras in his studio; in doing so he both reassures his supporters of his safety and allows the Chinese authorities to monitor his movements. This article examines Ai’s encounters with the government and the law by juxtaposing his experience with that of another controversial figure in art history, Oscar Wilde. It demonstrates the parallels between the two figures, in particular their use of the act of posing as a mode of subversion and resistance. It asks whether Wilde’s experience in the late-Victorian period can shed any light on Ai’s controversies in our own time.