This is the question we posed in 2023 when we unveiled a participatory work of art by Ai Weiwei.
Middle Finger invites anyone and everyone to share their point of view using the artist's own finger as it appears in his emblematic series, Study of Perspective. From the timely to the poignant, the absurd to the deliciously specific, watch the first 20,000 contributions in a looping two point perspective.
"The middle finger is just one of our fingers, but paradoxically, its use symbolises power and often becomes the most striking way to comment on our existence."
Ai WeiweiStudy of Perspective
Since 1995 Ai Weiwei has raised his middle finger to bastions of power, and taken photos to prove it. Begun in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of democratic protestors were killed by the Chinese government in 1989, he calls the series Study of Perspective.
Tiananmen Square, Beijing
Eiffel Tower, Paris
Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice
The White House, Washington
Weiwei has since reprised the work around the world, and in turn inspired a tide of recreations by members of the public. Beyond a superficial provocation, Study of Perspective asserts the importance of our freedom to form, hold and express our own beliefs. Conversely, with the images Weiwei forewarns the perils of blind collectivism, of culture without questions, and of surrender to seemingly immovable objects.
From this perspective, the power of a gesture is that anyone can make it.
