Thames & Hudson to publish Ai Weiwei’s ‘rallying cry for free speech’
Thames & Hudson has signed On Censorship by “one of contemporary art’s most influential figures”, Ai Weiwei.
Roger Thorp, editorial director for art at Thames & Hudson, has acquired world rights directly from the artist.
The book will be published in small format hardback on 29th January 2026, priced at £12.99.
In On Censorship, Ai Weiwei will examine censorship’s role in both the “overt propagandising and redactions of authoritarian regimes”, as well as within democratic frameworks.
The publisher said: “He will explore how international corporations, cultural institutions, social media and so-called ideologies of ‘freedom’ have provided fertile ground for new, more insidious suppressions. Drawing on his personal experiences and advocacy for the rights of others, Weiwei makes a rallying cry for free speech in an age shaped by Big Data, mass surveillance and intrusive new technologies of control.”
Thorp commented: “At a time when censorship has become a contested term at the centre of global politics, I cannot think of a better person to comment on this subject, someone who can speak with the incisive insight of one of the world’s foremost artists as well as with the nuanced voice of personal experience.”
Ai Weiwei is the recipient of the 2015 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation. He was also awarded the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture from the Japan Art Association in Tokyo in 2022.
