Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has a big statement for new moms. His latest piece is an 80-square-meter map of China made out of 1,800 cans of baby formula.
Mr. Ai uses seven different brands of the stuff to create a pixellated map of China, with the country’s 30-odd provincial areas highlighted in various shades of blue and white. Hainan island is a garish orange, while Taiwan – which China regards as a rogue province – gets a slightly softer yellow.
The work, on show at a civic center in Hong Kong, comes after a surge in demand from mainland China for milk powder cleared the shelves at the city’s supermarkets, leading it to put an emergency cap on exports.
The piece takes aim at the country’s scandal-ridden dairy industry. Perrennial worries about the safety of China’s onshore baby food industry have long made Hong Kong a formula-buying hotspot. Since the 2008 infant formula poisoning case that caused the death of six children and sickness in 300,000 others, Chinese moms have been reluctant to give their kids milk powder they buy at home. The recent build-up in demand for formula from outside China has come as contaminations have continued to emerge in the country’s local supply, compounded by a recent drought in Australia and New Zealand that affected the dairy supply.
Yet travelers are now warned that Hong Kong should no longer be considered a formula-trading hub. On March 1 Hong Kong enacted a two-tin limit on milk powder exports, aiming to address local fears of a potential shortage for Hong Kong’s babies. Those who attempt to sneak more than their share across the border will face fines of up to $64,000 and two-year prison sentences.
So the milk cans may touch a nerve.
Mr. Ai has a history of being provocative. He has upset traditional art types by smashing and defacing what he said was Neolithic pottery, inviting a parallel with China’s relaxed attitude towards the preservation of aging buildings. And he didn’t endear himself to the government by covering buildings with children’s backpacks to draw attention to the death of thousands of pupils in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, widely blamed on shoddy building standards at the region’s schools.
Mr. Ai has run into trouble with the law from time to time. He was detained for 81 days in 2011, eventually being released without charge. The following year the Beijing tax bureau stung him with a $2.4 million fine for tax evasion, a charge he denied. His attempts to appeal it, not surprisingly, were fruitless.
That has not stopped him rubbing salt into open wounds at each chance he gets. “Baby Formula 2013†is classic Ai Weiwei.
Source: WSJ
