The exhibition Ai Weiwei: According to What opens today at the Brooklyn Museum, the last stop on a U.S. tour that started, in a somewhat reduced form, at Washington’s Hirschorn Museum last year.

At the media preview on Wednesday, the artist, who is not permitted to leave his home city of Beijing, produced a video for the occasion in which he named himself a representative of all Chinese dissidents harassed by the authorities.

Running through his works and actions, which he attempts and often succeeds in making one and the same, is his lifelong belief in individual freedom and national heritage.

He said that it is important to understand what must be inherited [treasured] and what must change [be broken].

These plainly spoken words carry an enormous weight that is embodied in many of the works in the exhibition. A detailed commentary on the show will be posted next week in DART. Following is a preview. Also see the DART report on Mr.Weiwei’s Circle of Animals | Zodiac Heads, installed at the Pulitzer Fountain in 2011.

Ai Weiwei: According to What opens today and runs through August 10th at the Brooklyn Museum. 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY. Information. Public programs.

Save the date: Friday, May 16: Film screening of Ai Weiwei | The Fake Case (Dir. Andreas Johnson), IFC Center, NYC. Information. Trailer. Photos: Peggy Roalf.