About Sewing a Button

Why is Ai Weiwei performing in a jail cell for 24 hours?

In 2011, Ai Weiwei was secretly detained at Beijing [Capital International] Airport by Public Security in China.

For 81 days, he lived in a single cell, eating his meals, washing and exercising between interrogations.

He was released without charge and subjected to soft detention and continued surveillance.

In 2013, he turned the experience into art with WeiweiCam – a live broadcast, which 5 million people watched before the Chinese government shut it down.

He also recreated his cell in an installation titled S.A.C.R.E.D. or Sacred.

Now Ai Weiwei re-enacts his detention live for the very first time here in Manchester.

Sewing a Button is an unflinching 24-hour performance which takes its name from a poignant moment during his detention.

After two months of living without a button to hold his trousers up, a guard finally brought needle and thread to mend them.

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