Ai Weiwei unveils Sydney Biennale artwork, talks change in China - Action News
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Ai Weiwei unveils Sydney Biennale artwork, talks change in China

China's removal of presidential term limits, effectively letting President Xi Jinping hold office for life, will have no impact on its culture, artist Ai Weiwei said on Monday, as he unveiled a giant artwork in Sydney depicting asylum seekers.

Activist artist to screen documentary Human Flow, showcase work at art fair

In this image made from a video, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, centre, poses in front of his installation Law of the Journey, an artwork about the international refugee crisis. (Australia Broadcasting Corporation/AP)
China's removal of presidentialterm limits, effectively letting President Xi Jinping holdoffice for life, will have no impact on its culture, artist AiWeiwei said on Monday, as he unveiled a giant artwork in Sydneydepicting asylum seekers.

Ai, one of China's most high-profile artists and politicalactivists, has become a vocal campaigner on migration as thenumber of people forced from their homes largely by violenceand war has reached a record 65 million.

In Sydney, Ai presented his 60-metre-longinflatable raft, carrying about 300 oversized human figures, aday after China removed the term limits from its constitution,raising concerns about a return to strongman rule.

"China has always been emperor state," Ai, 60, told theAustralian Broadcasting Corp in an interview.

"It doesn't matter if it has the title of communist, nowcapitalism. It's a fatalistic society, so [if]it changes leaderor not change leader, the system and the culture always stay thesame."

'China has always been emperor state... the system and the culture always stay the same,' Ai said in Sydney on Monday. (Australia Broadcasting Corporation/AP)

Refugee-themed work at Sydney Biennale

First designed for the National Gallery of Prague, Ai's Lawof the Journeyis made from the rubber used by vessels carryingrefugees across the Mediterranean Sea.

Installed on Cockatoo Island, a former shipbuilding site, itwill serve as the centrepiece of the Sydney Biennale, runningfrom Friday to June 11.

Ai said the location was appropriate because of Australia'scontroversial policy of detaining unauthorized boat arrivals incamps in the Pacific island nation of Nauru and Papua NewGuinea's Manus Island.

"Australia's refugee record is quite poor, internationally,"he added.

"There's no excuse for any kind of policy [that]should notconsider protecting basic human rights."

The artist, who helped design the stadium of the 2008Beijing Olympic Games but was arrested in 2011 following criticism of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said he wasnot concerned the changes could bring a regime with "no end".

"People's lives [are]getting better," he said.

"You see so many youngsters study outside and I think thatthe Western idea to respect very basic human values has becomemore and more important for a society to maintain thecompetition."

Ai's Law of the Journey was first unveiled at the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic in March 2017. The massive installation, one of the artist's largest ever, is made from the rubber used by vessels carrying refugees across the Mediterranean Sea. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press)

Ai is set to speak on Thursday at the Australian launch ofhis asylum-seeker documentary, Human Flow, at the Sydney OperaHouse.

Ai, who has lived in Berlin since 2015, said he wanted thefilm to make people see refugees in a different light, as theywere victims of man-made problems.