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his involvement with the Bird's Nest
stadium, one of the centerpieces of the
2008 Beijing Olympics. It would still
be three years before he was named
the most powerful artist in the world
by ArtReview in 2011. He was also that
year's runner-up for Time magazine's
Person of the Year.
During that time, Ai became as
well-known for his attacks, frequently
via Twitter — he has been known
to tweet eight hours a day — on the
Chinese government's policies on
silencing dissidents, restricting free-
dom of speech and other human rights
violations as he is for his exhibitions
at London's Tate Modern Turbine Hall
and Tokyo's Mori Art Museum.
Despite his fame, Ai's activism over
the last few years has come at a price:
His blog, which received millions of
hits, was shut down; his home has
been ringed by surveillance cameras;
he has been placed under house arrest,
as well as beaten by police; his stu-
dio in Shanghai was torn down and,
in the most visible example of the
Chinese government trying to make
an example of him, he was arrested
and held incommunicado for almost
three months last year. It was an act
that brought worldwide condemnation
and calls for his release from the artis-
tic and human rights communities,
as well as from world leaders like U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Klayman, who had a front-row
seat to virtually everything that hap-
pened to Ai from 2008 to 2011, knew
from the beginning that she was on to
something special.
"I felt that this was a person I want-
ed to know more about — extremely
charismatic and also enigmatic," she
says. "I had lived in China for two
years when I met him and had never
met anyone who spoke like him, so
boldly and so critically. I knew the
audience would feel the same way —
that they would want to hang around
with him for 90 minutes."
Despite the differences in culture
and age — Ai is 55 — Klayman could
identify with her subject's efforts to
bring social justice to China, regard-
less of the price he paid.
As she explains it, "I see the act of
questioning as a Jewish value, and the
idea of bearing witness and shining a
light on dark parts" of society or histo-
ry was something "I feel was ingrained
in me from lessons of the Holocaust
and other episodes in Jewish history.
I also believe that tikkun olam applies
to the whole world, including China."
Bearing witness meant that
Klayman was present for highs, like
Ai's triumphant openings around the
world, and lows, like constant scrutiny
by every level of the state security

apparatus — plus physical confron-
tations like the harrowing scene in
the film where Ai comes face to face
in Chengdu with a policeman who
detained him the last time he was
there. As Klayman continues to shoot,
waves of policemen, both uniformed
and plainclothes, attack Ai and his
own cameraman.
Klayman is as sanguine about these
incidents off-camera as Ai is on-
camera.
"He's not reckless, and he's not
careening toward being some martyr,"
she says. "At the same time, there are
moments when he has no filter, and he
seems to be saying the most provoca-
tive thing he can say. But he does have
the calculation in his head about what
he can reasonably push with."
As for her own comfort level,
Klayman admits being concerned
about what would happen to her —
up to a point. "Even just showing up
at his house and thinking about the
security cameras, I would do this
quick calculation in my head: 'Where
is that tape going to go; who is going
to see that?' But I never felt that I was
important enough and that they were
coordinated enough to really know
what I was doing," she says, adding
that her real fear "was for Weiwei and
the Chinese citizens I was traveling
with — the risks they were taking
were much greater than mine; the
consequences for them were much
more severe."
With the critical and commercial
success of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,
it's a safe bet that Klayman is now
important enough to be on the radar
in China, especially since she became
a de facto spokeswoman for the artist
last year after his arrest.
She was in New York editing her
film at the time, and her extensive
knowledge of both the man and his
work made her a "get" for numerous
news outlets.
"I had no question that it was the
right thing to do, but it was also earlier
than I expected to be speaking about
the project, so it was kind of a 'What
Would Weiwei do?' kind of moment,"
she recalls.
Judging by the response to her film,
Klayman has definitely learned how to
get her — and Ai's — message across.
"I consistently get people who have
seen the film telling me that they can't
wait for my next movie, which is all a
filmmaker could hope for," she says.

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*Open 7 days

Breakfast • Lunch
Dinner
Carryout. Catering. Trays.
Serving Beer & Wine
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❑

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is

scheduled to open Friday, Aug.
31, at the Main Art Theatre in
Royal Oak. (248) 263-2111;
www.landmarktheatres.com .

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Also Bloomfield Hills, Rochester Hill, Sterling Hgts., Novi and Somerset

August 23 •.2012

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