AWW Free School Final: 6/4/89

AWW Free School Final: 6/4/89

Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the student protests at Tiananmen Square, this culmination of the AWW Free School (external link, opens in new window)  will feature an onstage conversation with journalists and activists who witnessed the massacre. The panel will be introduced by Olivia Chow, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson and core member of the Toronto Association of Democracy in China, founded in May 1989 to support the student protest in Tiananmen Square and the movement for democratic reform in China. Joining Chow will be labour activist Winnie Ng, authors and journlists Jan Wong and Doug Saunders.

Co-presented with Ken Moffatt, The Jack Layton Chair and Melanie Panitch, The Director of The Office of Social Innovation, Ryerson University

About AWW Free School

Inspired by the exhibition Ai Weiwei: Unbroken (external link) , this unique series in collaboration with the Gardiner Museum will transform the exhibition into a site for social action. Four interdisciplinary workshops, focused on documentary media, spoken word, performance, and online journalism, will be offered free with registration. These workshops, co-led by artists, facilitators, and writers, will activate the exhibition by connecting its themes to the practice of public citizenship.

About the exhibition: Ai Weiwei: Unbroken

Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most influential artists and human rights activists, as well as one of China’s most formidable critics. Known for smashing conventions—and ceramics—with iconic works like Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, he upends the cultural traditions and materials of his native China.

This highly-anticipated and timely exhibition explores the breaking of boundaries, both physical and symbolic, and considers how the artist’s ceramic works form a basis for his ongoing exploration of urgent social justice themes, including immigration, freedom of speech, and the repression of dissent. Learn more (external link)