Posted: November 19th, 2022

Lego Collection Point

Lego Collection Point

Lego Collection Point
A renowned Chinese present-day artist and human rights/political activist, Ai Weiwei, came up a Lego Collection Point effort as part of his work. On October 23 of the year 2015, Mr. Ai posted on Instagram to challenge a family that owned a Danish Lego company for refusing his request for toy bricks for an exhibition artwork in Australia in 2014. The company’s claim that Mr. Ai would use their products for political missions triggered him to accuse them of censorship and discrimination, and advocate for freedom of speech and expression, among other human rights.
The purpose of Mr. Ai’s piece, Lego Collection Point, is to shun censorship and discrimination on whatever grounds. As an activist and an artist, Ai has never retaliated in advocating for human rights. He uses social media platforms to communicate and pass his messages of political discontents. In the case of the iconic break collection point, he used an Instagram social network. He mentions in his writing that the LEGOs could not render him his studio request since they had no proof of the use of LEGOs for a political errand. Nevertheless, Mr. Ai was to use the iconic bricks to build the portraits of liberty and human rights advocates.
The underlying message the artist portrays in his post is a defense of freedom of expression and protection against discrimination. After reading the post, thousands of anonymous followers sacrificed to contribute their used LEGOs to Mr. Ai. The responses on his post were overwhelming, and further critics against the LEGOs were propagated after realizing that the main idea was to defend human rights. Many responses on Instagram were criticizing the LEGOs Company and family for discrimination and censorship.
In response to the comments and dedications from his supporters, Mr. Ai assured them that his intention to defend political art and freedom of speech would go on after receiving the donated Legos. Therefore, he established the collection points in the major museums and cultural institutions in the world. One of the cultural institutions was MASS MoCA which Ai invited to participate as a LEGO collection point in Chinese. Other collection points included; Berlin, London, Royal Academy, Copenhagen, Spain, Malaga, Contemporary Art Center, National Gallery of Victoria, Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Martin-Gropius-Bau, and Melbourne. In the United States, the Brooklyn Museum was the very first collection point. He developed a systematic network for collecting donated LEGOs. Those who contributed the LEGOs placed them in the sunroof or through the open windows of the collection car parked in front of the Museum. Otherwise, there was a donation mail that the donors could also use.
All the collected LEGOs were transported to Melbourne, Australia at the National Gallery of Victoria where Mr. Ai was to appropriately utilize them for designing a series of flags for an exhibition. Like most of the works of Mr. Ai, the LEGOs collection project reflected his untiring engagements with social and political issues. He expressly fought to uphold the freedom of speech, and his basic communication tools are social networks (Instagram, Youtube, Websites, Facebook, Twitter) where he reaches a broad audience.

References
Brooklyn Museum. (2015, November). Ai Weiwei: LEGO Collection Point. Retrieved from https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ai_weiwei_lego_collection_point
HAM Kulma. (2015). Ai Weiwei: Lego Collection Point. Retrieved from https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/en/exhibition/ai-weiwei-legojen-kerailypiste/

Lego Collection Point
A renowned Chinese present-day artist and human rights/political activist, Ai Weiwei, came up a Lego Collection Point effort as part of his work. On October 23 of the year 2015, Mr. Ai posted on Instagram to challenge a family that owned a Danish Lego company for refusing his request for toy bricks for an exhibition artwork in Australia in 2014. The company’s claim that Mr. Ai would use their products for political missions triggered him to accuse them of censorship and discrimination, and advocate for freedom of speech and expression, among other human rights.
The purpose of Mr. Ai’s piece, Lego Collection Point, is to shun censorship and discrimination on whatever grounds. As an activist and an artist, Ai has never retaliated in advocating for human rights. He uses social media platforms to communicate and pass his messages of political discontents. In the case of the iconic break collection point, he used an Instagram social network. He mentions in his writing that the LEGOs could not render him his studio request since they had no proof of the use of LEGOs for a political errand. Nevertheless, Mr. Ai was to use the iconic bricks to build the portraits of liberty and human rights advocates.
The underlying message the artist portrays in his post is a defense of freedom of expression and protection against discrimination. After reading the post, thousands of anonymous followers sacrificed to contribute their used LEGOs to Mr. Ai. The responses on his post were overwhelming, and further critics against the LEGOs were propagated after realizing that the main idea was to defend human rights. Many responses on Instagram were criticizing the LEGOs Company and family for discrimination and censorship.
In response to the comments and dedications from his supporters, Mr. Ai assured them that his intention to defend political art and freedom of speech would go on after receiving the donated Legos. Therefore, he established the collection points in the major museums and cultural institutions in the world. One of the cultural institutions was MASS MoCA which Ai invited to participate as a LEGO collection point in Chinese. Other collection points included; Berlin, London, Royal Academy, Copenhagen, Spain, Malaga, Contemporary Art Center, National Gallery of Victoria, Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Martin-Gropius-Bau, and Melbourne. In the United States, the Brooklyn Museum was the very first collection point. He developed a systematic network for collecting donated LEGOs. Those who contributed the LEGOs placed them in the sunroof or through the open windows of the collection car parked in front of the Museum. Otherwise, there was a donation mail that the donors could also use.
All the collected LEGOs were transported to Melbourne, Australia at the National Gallery of Victoria where Mr. Ai was to appropriately utilize them for designing a series of flags for an exhibition. Like most of the works of Mr. Ai, the LEGOs collection project reflected his untiring engagements with social and political issues. He expressly fought to uphold the freedom of speech, and his basic communication tools are social networks (Instagram, Youtube, Websites, Facebook, Twitter) where he reaches a broad audience.

References
Brooklyn Museum. (2015, November). Ai Weiwei: LEGO Collection Point. Retrieved from https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ai_weiwei_lego_collection_point
HAM Kulma. (2015). Ai Weiwei: Lego Collection Point. Retrieved from https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/en/exhibition/ai-weiwei-legojen-kerailypiste/

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