'We're relieved'

In Beijing, the official line is that Ai Weiwei was released after he confessed to tax fraud, and because he is chronically ill. The internationally renowned artist was arrested April 3 and subsequently detained at an unknown location. During that time, Beijing said he was being held for "economic crimes," but did not give any details.

Harsh criticism of Ai's arrest came from all over the world. More than 100,000 people signed a petition for his release, which had been initiated by the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

In a symbolic move in May, the Academy of the Arts in Berlin elected Ai as a member. His membership won't be officially valid until the artist accepts it, which hasn't been possible until now, says Academy President Klaus Staeck in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Deutsche Welle: Are you surprised by the release of Ai Weiwei?

Klaus Staeck: One can be surprised by good news, too. And it is good news; we are relieved.

Did the protests of many German artists contribute to Ai Weiwei's release?

There was always a dispute over whether demonstrating for Ai Weiwei helped or hurt his situation. Our stance was that when someone is abducted and silenced, it makes no sense to be silent as well.

What can we learn from this for future German-Chinese cultural relations? Should we protest more?

We should definitely protest when we believe that an injustice is occurring. China calls itself a rule-of-law state, but abducting Ai Weiwei without telling anyone of his whereabouts was not something a rule-of-law state would do.

We can learn that the fact that he was arrested just two days after the opening of the Enlightenment exhibition exposed something. That we have to be careful with major state events and should put greater emphasis on direct artistic exchange and support exchange between smaller institutions. [Eds: A German-sponsored exhibition called "Art of the Enlightenment" opened at the Chinese National Museum in Beijing at the beginning of April.]

China's Premier Wen Jiabao will be coming to Germany next week. Do you think German politicians should be more vocal about criticizing human rights violations in China?

I think they should. But I also think business should as well. Politicians got moderately involved - at the big solidarity event held at the Academy of the Arts, Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann spoke surprisingly directly for a politician.

But nothing came from the business sector, which makes the most deals with the Chinese. And I don't think that any fewer BMWs were bought since BMW did comment in this case. It's not enough to rely on silence and diplomacy that no one can understand.

Interview: Günther Birkenstock / kjb

Editor: Martin Kuebler