Ai Weiwei on the Bird’s Nest Stadium

AI WEIWEI’S involvement in the design of the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing is one of his greatest achievements. And yet in doing so he was helping create propaganda for the Chinese Community Party. He must have known that at the time.

“Not at the beginning,” Ai says. “I was so drawn to architecture. I would do anything for architecture.”

Working with the Swiss architects, their design won via anonymous competition, much to the chagrin of China’s leaders who would have preferred a Chinese winner.

“They approached me [and asked], ‘Can you tell me how important you are in there? How many Chinese ingredients you put in the food?’

“I said it’s nothing to do with Chinese, and they are very disappointed.

“They even have temptation to switch, but it is too late because the Olympics come and that is the target for the party to really tell the world how unified, how strong they are.

“It is a very crucial moment, not just for Chinese Communist party but also for all the western investors in China.”

Even so, he says, “I know the project may have completely collapsed because I have an inside person in Chinese society who said, ‘They already decided to change your architecture, but they are facing problems.’

“They asked a top lawyer … I never tell anybody this … ‘If we switch what will happen?’

“The lawyers tell them, ‘You will be facing a credibility problem because this is an international competition.’

“So, they let it happen. And it was the best, they can never get anything better than that. I decided never to do architecture again because it’s too political and at the same time I said I’m not going to be part of the ceremony because I realised that it had become pure propaganda.”

Can you be proud of the building then?

“Oh, the building is fantastic. I think maybe every 100 years there is one building like that.”