Why doesn’t Ai Weiwei use knock-off Chinese LEGO bricks for his art instead of actual LEGO bricks?
My bet is because it simply isn’t logical to Ai Weiwei and company.
Ai Weiwei is no longer in China.
To get knock-off bricks he’d have to pay somebody to round them up for him inside China and then ship them to him outside China.
Not only would that make the expense probably close to just buying real LEGO, it very well could make a target out of anybody who helped him inside China.
And if Ai Weiwei were to do so, and Chinese authorities found out, it would put them in a very awkward position.
Chinese authorities would have to either seize his shipment and be seen as publicly “cracking down” on speech, or they’d have to let it through… which would further speech they do not approve of.
Either way, it would most likely been seen as a violation of Ai Weiwei’s non-literal parole. The Communist Party of China does not take well to dissenters who upon release take up the voice of dissent again.
And anyways, who cares.
It’s Ai Weiwei’s art. If he wants LEGO bricks so be it.
It’s literally the equivalent of wanting Sennelier paints instead of Grumbacher.