Ai Weiwei's life and art

In this thesis, it is aimed to examine the factors and works of Weiwei's creation in a comprehensive way. The geography and political environment in which the artist is still alive is the origin of his work and his opposing stance. For this reason, with reference to foreign sources, Weiwei's family, the geography of birth and the influence of the political environment in the art were emphasized. Ai Weiwei, a versatile artist, has made his name known to the world especially with the works he has done in the last decade. In addition to being active in areas such as installation, photography, film and curating, he is a social, political and cultural critic. Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 as the son of the famous poet Ai Qing. His father, Ai Qing, was deported with his family to a labor camp in northern China because he was right-wing. The fact that Weiwei spent his childhood in the labor camp forms the basis of his current art activities. Returning to Beijing after the end of the Cultural Revolution, Weiwei enrolled in the first art school, but emigrated to New York due to limited art education in China. Interested in Western art, Weiwei was influenced by Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Any Warhol in New York. When he returned to his home country in 1993 after 12 years, he produced works focusing on China's cultural history, criticizing the political system and emphasizing the contradictions of modernity. His works, which have references from the handicraft tradition, today question how the new values are added to social values in an oppositional language. His artistic attitude blurs the distinction between politics, activism and contemporary art through his actions in daily life and in connection with social crises. Key words: Ai Weiwei, cultural revolution, Chinese culture, installation, ceramic