SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (China), AFP
BEIJING – Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has released a foul-mouthed heavy metal music video entitled Dumbass that parodies his months in police detention.
In the video for the top single from his upcoming debut album The Divine Comedy, Weiwei tells the story of his 81 days in secret detention for tax evasion in 2011, which sparked international outrage.
AFP describes the five-minute song as being peppered with bad language, as it includes lyrics like “Stand on the frontline like a dumbass, in a country that puts out like a hooker.”
The music video culminates with Weiwei shaving his head and trademark beard and putting on women’s underwear.
For the video — which was shot by Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle, best known for working with Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-wai — the political activist told AFP that he created an “exact model” of the room in which he was kept for much of his detention.
“Being in that environment makes me realise that for these people, the only available release or means to kill time is music,” the 55-year-old Beijing-based artist said in a press release quoted by the South China Morning Post.
