Ai Weiwei creates video promo for Elton John’s AIDS foundation

In November, Elton John angered Chinese officials when he dedicated a Beijing concert to Ai Weiwei. The outspoken artist, whose online activism has gotten him into trouble with police numerous times, has apparently returned the favor by creating an online promotional video for the pop singer’s AIDS foundation.

The video exists in two versions -- one is 30 seconds long, the other is a minute. The promo is viewable in the clip below. The Valentine’s Day-themed promo is also expected to run on screens in Times Square, Piccadilly Circus and Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, according to a report in Britain’s Independent.

Ai’s work is currently the subject of a traveling retrospective that is at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington through Feb. 24.

In 2011, Beijing officials threw the artist into secret detention for 81 days, apparently for his online activism. Ai has been openly critical of the Chinese government for its suppression of free speech and its handling of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

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