He was arrested on unspecified charges by Chinese security police while he and his family were about to board a plane to Hong Kong, as reported by the NY Times. In response to Weiwei’s arrest Lebbeus Woods made the following statement on his blog:
The Light Pavilion by me and Christoph a. Kumpusch is already under construction in Chengdu, China. I here state publicly that I will not accept another project in China until Ai Weiwei is released unharmed from detention or imprisonment.
LW
An internationally renowned artist, Weiwei also was involved with the design for the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing among other architecture projects. He has therefore become well connected within the architecture community and the question is will other architects make a similar decision to Lebbeus Woods, backing Weiwei and pulling out of future project opportunities in China.
Last November he was briefly confined to his home in Beijing by the police, who he said were instructed to prevent him from attending a party in Shanghai he had organized to commemorate the destruction of a million-dollar art studio that had been built at the behest of the local government. Although he never found out who ordered the demolition, he said he suspected powerful figures in Shanghai who were likely angered by his freewheeling criticism of the government.
