Received from Ford Crull in Shanghai:

OK, so I survived the performance. It was all improvised. I had one hour to paint these 2 canvases while 2 Chinese musicians each played for a half hour. It is very humid here so I was sweating bullets, but I just about got it done. The scaffolding wasn't quite high enough, so I stood on the ends to reach the top. I will touch it up when it comes back to Red Town in Shanghai where it will be permanently displayed.

from Freize:

Ai Weiwei has undergone surgery for cerebral haemorrhage in a Munich hospital four weeks after being beaten up severely by Chinese policemen in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. In previous months Weiwei had been documenting and publicizing the names of more than 5000 children who had died under collapsing, ill-constructed school buildings in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The alleged attack came on 12 August, the night before he planned to attend the trial against fellow investigator and activist Tan Zuoren, who was charged with ‘subversion’.

Suffering headache since then, which had become more severe during his stay in Munich (he is there in preparation for a show at Haus der Kunst), Weiwei went for a check-up, and doctors advised an emergency operation, he told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The New York Times
May 1, 2009
Cyberwar
Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors
By JOHN MARKOFF

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/technology/01filter.html?em

The Iranian government, more than almost any other, censors what
citizens can read online, using elaborate technology to block millions
of Web sites offering news, commentary, videos, music and, until

O ZHANG
The World is Yours (But Also Ours)

CRG GALLERY - NEW YORK

DECEMBER 12, 2008 - JANUARY 31, 2009
opening reception: Friday, Dec 12, 6-8pm

For her first solo exhibition in the United States, O Zhang transforms CRG's space with an installation that has at its center images from her latest photographic series: The World is Yours (But Also Ours).

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing concluded today without experiencing any major disruptions. This despite an announcement by the Chinese government that they had set aside designated protest zones, and even furnished these with basic accommodations for the protesters.