Ai Weiwei’s Beijing Studio Torn Down
Artist and activist Ai Weiwei’s Zuoyou studio was recently demolished without warning in Beijing.
A demolition crew turned up at Ai’s studio on the afternoon of August 3 and began to smash the windows of the former factory building while a drill truck tore down the walls. Though Ai was planning to relocate and the rental contract on the studio had expired in late 2017, the deadline to vacate the premises had not yet passed when destruction began. Ai posted videos and photos of the seven-day demolition to his Instagram. In his penultimate post about the event, published on August 9, he wrote: “From today (2018.08.09), this is the last footage of my Zuoyou studio in Beijing. I have used it since 2006. The sudden demolition started one week ago with no advanced warning.”
Located on the eastern outskirts of Beijing, Zuoyou was Ai’s largest studio
