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Vincent Anthony Falkiewicz

Of all the art and artists displayed at the 42nd Art Basel, none is quite as controversial as that of "incarcerated Chinese sculptor and performance artist Ai Weiwei (Allsop 1)."  He was recently arrested by officials of the People's Republic of China, but several protests have been conducted to free the free speaking artist.  Although many expected his arrest to spark a large number of people to attend these protests, "some protests have been sparsely attended."  Even though his protests have been sparsely attended, it has done wonders for his works.  Specifically, a collection of pictures of "500 of the 1001 Chinese people that he brought to Kassel in 2007 as part of his art work named Fairytale (Allsop 1)" has been the talk of the show.  This was part of the reason he was incarcerated, hence the reason it is so highly discussed.  Considering he was arrested for it, I don't think this was a marketing strategy of his.  Otherwise it would have ended with him not in jail.  However, even though it's not a specific strategy, the arrest has certainly helped bring attention to his art, specifically Fairytale.  Normally, this type of attention varies on how it affects the price of the artist's work.  In the case of Weiwei, no such effect is apparent.  However, information is limited on the price of works displayed.  Weiwei does prove how an artist with significant representation and respect in the contemporary art world can have significantly more attention be drawn to his work though. 

http://www.courrielche.com/?p=1011

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-16/world/basel.art.parcours_1_american-artist-walls-gallery?_s=PM:WORLD