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Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist whose political criticisms of China resulted in his detention. In the weeks and months following his detention, protests for his release took place around the world and Art Basel 42 was no exception. The event was a large and visible venue in which to draw attention to the plight of Ai Weiwei, current issues in China, and also his art and that of other Chinese artists. Weiwei was released days after the Art Basel 42 concluded. While perhaps the intention of the Chinese government was to prevent him from attending such events and expressing his opinions, the result was contrary in that it increased Weiwei's visibility and international interest in him. I think large international events such as the Art Basel are ideal venues for artists to or protesters to voice their complaints about political issues in order to garner widespread attention for the issues (and for their art as well in the case of artists whether intentionally or not).
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