Artist Ai Weiwei banned from using Lego to build artwork

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei says Danish toymaker Lego has refused his studio’s request for a bulk order of the plastic toys on political grounds.

In an Instagram post on Friday evening, the artist said Lego had refused the bulk order in September, quoting the company as saying it “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works”.

The artist’s accusation follows news this week that British firm Merlin Entertainments will open a Legoland park in Shanghai in conjunction with a Chinese partner. That announcement, timed to coincide with Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK, seems to have prompted the artist’s Instagram post.

The latest bulk order by the artist would have been used to create an artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia later this year.

It is not the first time the toymaker has met with political controversy. Earlier this year, the company refused journalist Maia Weinstock’s submission to its “Lego Ideas” platform of a custom set which celebrated the female justices of the US supreme court.

But despite that case, there seems to be no precedent for the company to refuse a bulk order on political grounds. Lego did not return a request for comment.

An earlier major exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s work, held inside Alcatraz island penitentiary in the San Francisco bay, featured works made out of the plastic construction toys.

The piece, titled Trace, showed pixelated images of more than 175 prisoners of conscience including Nelson Mandela, Edward Snowden and Nobel prize-winning Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The Danish toymaker is expanding its presence in China as growth in the US – its biggest market – has slowed. In September, the company reported that Asia provided the highest regional growth rate.

The company has also invested a “three-digit million euro figure” into a new manufacturing facility in Jiaxing, to help keep up with the regional demand.

A sequel to the 2014 hit The Lego Movie as well as spin-off films are scheduled for release in 2017, but it is not clear if they will be released in mainland China.

The Lego Movie was not released to cinemas on the Chinese mainland but did prove popular in Hong Kong where it took the No 1 spot on its opening weekend. The film featured Lego characters attempting to undermine the villainous Lord Business and was praised by critics as an intelligent satirical take on conformity and corporate control.

Guardian