Museum Lifts Wraps on China Dissent's First Big U.S. Show

One of the Washington's biggest art museums lifted the wraps Tuesday on the first North American survey of the work of Ai Weiwei, with the Chinese dissident artist conspicuous by his absence.

"Ai Weiwei: According to What?" which opens Sunday, takes up an entire floor of the Hirshhorn Museum with the outspoken artist's photographs, videos, sculptures, installations and, on the walls, thought-provoking quotations.

It also features 7,000 digital photographs -- many of them inoffensive snapshots of his cats -- that Ai would have shown the world via the Internet had the Chinese government not shut down his access to social media.

"He really wanted to come ... but he doesn't have a passport," which Beijing is refusing to return to him despite the expiration of a travel ban four months ago, curator Mami Kataoka told AFP at a media preview.

The burly, wispy-bearded Ai, 55, has been under pressure over Chinese government allegations of tax evasion by his production company, Fake Cultural Development, resulting in a $2.4 million fine by the Beijing tax bureau.

The internationally renowned avant-garde artist, who denies the allegations, has emerged as a fierce government critic, often through his prolific use of the Internet and social media.

"I lived in the United States for 12 years from the 1980s to the early 1990s, so the opportunity for a show here is very meaningful for me," said Ai in a statement relayed by the Hirshhorn's director Richard Koshalek.

"I've experienced dramatic changes in my living and working conditions over the past few years," he added, alluding in part to the 81 days he spent in detention last year amid a roundup of Chinese activists.

"This exhibition has been an opportunity to re-examine past work and communicate with audiences from afar."

The exhibition -- based on a show that Kataoka put together for Tokyo's Mori Art Museum three years ago -- runs through February 24, after which it will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana; Toronto; Miami and New York.

"I think he wanted, through these exhibitions, to communicate with a larger public," Kataoka said.