Demolition begins at Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s Beijing studio

A Beijing art studio belonging to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei was torn down on August 4. Ai said this was done without notice. The rental contract for the space expired last year, but it wasn't possible to move all the items out at the time, due to the large quantity and size of the artworks in the space. The studio has been Ai’s primary workspace since 2006.