Ai Weiwei kick starts a new meme

Ai Weiwei, one of China’s most prolific and provocative contemporary artists, uploaded a photo of himself with a “leg-gun” to Instagram last Wednesday. Six days later tens of thousands online imitators followed the suit. Many images were reposted by Ai Weiwei to his account that has more than 60 thousand followers. The pictures are labeled with new hashtags — #leggun and #endgunviolence.

Some noted the similarity of the pose to one seen in the Chinese ballet The Red Detachment of Women (since Weiwei posted its shot just before the leg-gun meme), others suggest that it is a reminder of the quarter-century anniversary of Beijing’s student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Weiwei is yet to confirm any of the above.

Note: Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture and architecture. He was recently named as the most powerful person in the art world, according to ArtReview magazine. One of his latest projects, “Sunflower Seeds”, — the 100 million individually crafted porcelain sunflower seed reproductions, is on display at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in London.

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