Dissident artist and activist Ai Weiwei has documented the sudden razing of his Beijing studio by Chinese authorities in a series of Instagram posts. Ai had occupied the former factory since 2006. The building still contained some of his work, which has reportedly been destroyed or damaged, as his assistants were given no time to remove it before the structure was demolished. As a critic of the Chinese government’s stance on democracy and human rights, Ai was detained for 81 days in 2011 and his passport was confiscated. He now lives in Berlin, after the document was returned to him in 2015.
