Laura Poitras Film Documents Ai Weiwei and Jacob Appelbaum's Covert Panda Artwork
Laura Poitras directed a new film titled The Art of Dissent, released online by The New Museum and Rhizome. The documentary captures the creation of Panda-to-Panda, a collaborative artwork by Ai Weiwei and WikiLeaks/Tor Project activist Jacob Appelbaum. For this project, 20 toy pandas were stuffed with shredded documents from Edward Snowden and an SD card provided by Appelbaum, whose contents remain undisclosed. In China, the term 'panda' colloquially refers to a secret police member. These altered pandas were distributed globally to activists in art, technology, and free-speech circles, including recipients Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. The film's release coincided with the art-tech conference Seven on Seven, where it was made available for viewing.
Key facts
- Laura Poitras directed the film The Art of Dissent
- The film documents the making of Panda-to-Panda artwork
- Ai Weiwei and Jacob Appelbaum collaborated on the artwork
- 20 toy pandas were stuffed with shredded Edward Snowden documents
- An SD card with unknown contents was included, supplied by Jacob Appelbaum
- The pandas were distributed to activists worldwide, including Julian Assange and Edward Snowden
- The film was released by The New Museum and Rhizome
- Release was part of the art-tech conference Seven on Seven
Entities
Artists
- Laura Poitras
- Ai Weiwei
- Jacob Appelbaum
Institutions
- The New Museum
- Rhizome
- WikiLeaks
- Tor Project
- Seven on Seven
Locations
- China