Actually, its the government’s charge, and the “crime” is a little on the vague side (tax evasion), but Ai Weiwei has now finally declared refusal to pay. Now comes the uncomfortable part of finding out what happens as a consequence. Ai’s point, which he has managed to express repeatedly over the course of the prosecution of his case, is that there is no real functioning legal system in China, just a serious of arbitrary measures leading up to foregone conclusions. This may be so, but the police force is certainly in effect. Again, let’s hope this comes out well.

Meanwhile, of course, and while without a passport he’s unable to move about, he’s anything but shut out of global art proceedings. As his Twitterfeed photo a few hours ago, here connected via video link with Taiwan Biennale