Since his release last June, he has been forbidden to leave Beijing and compelled to ask police for permission whenever he wants to leave the courtyard compound where he lives and works, on the north-eastern edge of the capital. He has also been the subject of intense surveillance. He is certain that his phones and computers are tapped. And he knows of at least 15 police surveillance cameras mounted within 100 metres of his home. Spotting them is easy, as the police have helpfully chosen to decorate each camera with a bright red lantern.

Not unreasonably, Mr Ai thought he was being helpful when he resolved to mark the anniversary by mounting four cameras of his own, covering nearly all his own movements, and streaming the live video footage onto the internet at a website he created, called weiweicam.com

— House arrest in China: Orwell, Kafka and Ai Weiwei | The Economist (via new-aesthetic) Also: “Less than two days after he turned his cameras on, Mr Ai recounted, police called to ask him whether he was in fact streaming his own self-surveillance video online. He answered truthfully. They asked what he would think of stopping it. He answered truthfully again, saying he thought it was a good thing, and that this was why he bothered to do it. If they really wanted him to stop, they would have to order it. They did, and he complied. The cameras are off and the website now displays only a blank white page.”