On April 3, internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained at the Beijing airport while en route to Hong Kong, and his papers and computers were seized from his studio compound. Ai’s whereabouts remain unknown and due process under Chinese law has been denied him.

We members of the international arts community express our concern for Ai’s freedom and disappointment in China’s reluctance to live up to its promise to nurture creativity and independent thought, the keys to “soft power” and cultural influence.

Our institutions have some of the largest online museum communities in the world. We have launched this online petition to our collective millions of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. By using Ai Weiwei’s favored medium of “social sculpture,” we hope to hasten the release of our visionary friend.

Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
and Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art
Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Director General, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao,
and Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Glenn Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sir Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate and Chris Dercon, Director, Tate Modern
Kaywin Feldman, President, Association of Art Museum Directors and Director
and President, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Yongwoo Lee, President, The Gwangju Biennale Foundation
Michael Govan, Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Vishakha Desai, President and Melissa Chiu, Vice President of Global Arts, Asia Society
Jim Cuno, President and Director, Art Institute of Chicago
Julián Zugazagoitia, Director, Nelson Atkins Museum , Kansas City
Ann Philbin, Director, Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
Olga Viso, Director, Walker Art Center
Alfred Pacquement, Director, Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Paris
Arnold Lehman, Director, Brooklyn Museum
Jill Medvedow, Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes
and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London
Poul Erik Tøjner, Director, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Neal Benezra, Director, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Tony Ellwood, Director, and Suhanya Raffel, Deputy Director, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museums
Ann Goldstein, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Apinan Poshynanda, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Director, dOCUMENTA (13) and Bernd Leifeld, CEO, documenta
Manray Hsu, Founding Director, Taipei Contemporary Art Center
Holly Hotchner, Nanette L. Laitman Director, Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Joel Wachs, President, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
Christy MacLear, Executive Director, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York
Marcelo Araújo, Executive Director, and Ivo Mesquita, Chief Curator, Pinacoteca de São Paulo

前言

享誉国际的艺术家艾未未于四月三日于北京国际机场，在乘机前往香港时遭受扣押。他位于北京住所的文件及电脑也遭查封。艾未未至今仍下落不明，他的案件也未受到正当司法程序审理。

我们身为国际艺术组织的成员，在此表达对艾未未的人身自由之强烈忧虑。同时，我们对于中国政府未能实现其对于培植创造力及自由思考─这些作为”软实力”及文化影响力的根本要件之承诺，感到十分失望。

我们的机构拥有部份全世界最大的博物馆线上社群。我们已经在网上发起请愿活动，串联我們在Facebook(脸书)及Twitter(推特)上的百万追随者。我们期望藉由艾未未深信能够实现”社会雕塑”的媒体-网路，来达成对释放这位拥有美好远景的朋友之请求。

Richard Armstrong 古根汉姆美术馆馆长, Alexandra Munroe 古根汉姆美术馆资深策展人
Juan Ignacio Vidarte 古根汉姆美术馆毕尔巴鄂分馆馆长古根汉姆基金会副会长暨首席国际策略执行官
Glenn Lowry 纽约当代美术馆馆长
Sir Nicholas Serota 泰德美术馆馆长, Chris Dercon 泰德当代美术馆馆长
Kaywin Feldman 美国博物馆协会暨明尼阿波利斯美术馆总裁
Yongwoo Lee 光州双年展基金会总裁
Michael Govan 洛杉矶美术馆馆长
Vishakha Desai 亚洲协会总裁, Melissa Chiu 亚洲协会全球艺术项目副总裁
Jim Cuno 芝加哥美术馆馆长暨总裁
Julián Zugazagoitia 纳尔逊·阿特金斯艺术博物馆馆长
Ann Philbin 加州大学洛杉矶分校汉默美术馆馆长
Olga Viso 沃克艺术中心执行 官
Alfred Pacquement 国立现代艺术美术馆 / 巴黎工业设计中心馆长
Arnold Lehman 布鲁克林美术馆馆长
Jill Medvedow波士顿当代艺术美术馆馆长
Julia Peyton-Jones伦敦蛇形画廊执行官
Hans Ulrich Obrist 伦敦蛇形画廊展览部联合总监暨国际展览项目总监
Poul Erik Tøjner丹麦路易斯安那现代美术馆馆长
Nathalie Bondil 蒙特利尔美术馆馆长暨首席策展人
Neal Benezra 旧金山当代美术馆馆长
Tony Ellwood 澳大利亚昆士兰美术馆馆长, Suhanya Raffel 澳大利亚昆士兰美术馆副馆长
Thomas W. Lentz 哈佛大学美术馆馆长
Ann Goldstein 阿姆斯特丹市立博物馆馆长
Apinan Poshynanda泰国曼谷艺术文化中心
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev 第13届卡赛尔文献展艺术总监, Bernd Leifeld 卡赛尔文献展首席执行官
徐文瑞台北当代艺术中心创始总监
Holly Hotchner 纽约艺术与设计博物馆馆长
Joel Wachs 纽约安迪沃霍尔视觉艺术基金会总裁
Christy MacLear 纽约罗伯特劳森伯格基金会执行理事
Marcelo Araújo, 圣保罗州立美术馆执行理事, Ivo Mesquita, 圣保罗州立美术馆首席策展人

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