Ai Weiwei, artiste dissident chinois, s'installe à Alcatraz

Cet ancien détenu s'intéresse aux conditions de détention à Alcatraz. Il va exposer ses oeuvres dans des salles de cette ancienne prison fédérale.

 "The plan is to install some artworks in the building that served as a maximum-security penitentiary from 1934 to 1963. Other works are intended for an adjacent laundry building, where inmates like Al Capone were once put to work.

Ms. Haines said she has long been interested in the multilayered history of Alcatraz — as federal prison, a military prison before that, and later as a site of American Indian protests. She said she first mentioned the place to Mr. Ai during a visit two years ago to his studio on the outskirts of Beijing.

 “He was talking about how interested he was in reaching a broad audience, beyond the art world,” she said by telephone. “It was just four months after his release from incarceration, and this thought popped into my mind: ‘What if I brought you a prison?’ ”

After the artist expressed interest, Ms. Haines worked to gain support from the National Park Service, which oversees the island, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which provides funding and programming for it.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/arts/design/chinese-dissident-ai-weiwei-to-take-his-art-to-alcatraz.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131203