The Danish toy company, Lego, declined a bulk order of bricks for a new artwork on the subject of free speech for an Andy Warhol/ Ai Weiwei exhibition.
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist who uses Lego bricks to his artworks. Some works he created are the portraits of 175 people which include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi who were jailed or exiled for their political activism.
Everyone was curious why another well-loved brand, Lego, made a decision like that.
A global campaign was launched and its aim is for the people to donate their logo bricks. Internet users have been donating their Legos to Weiwei and several tweets about their bucket loads of the childhood toy.
Because of the situation Weiwei posted a photo in his Instagram with a caption, "In September Lego refused Ai Weiwei Studio's request for a bulk order of Legos to create artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria as 'they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works.'"
Roar Trangbaek, press officer the Lego Group released a statement, "While we by principle cannot comment on the dialogue we have with our customers, partners, consumers or other stakeholders, I would like to clarify that we respect any individuals' right to free creative expression."
"We acknowledge, that LEGO bricks today are used globally by millions of fans, adults, children and artists as a creative medium to express their imagination and creativity in many different ways. Projects that are not endorsed or supported by the Lego Group," he explained further.
After that he said, "We refrain, on a global level, from actively engaging in or endorsing the use of Lego bricks in projects or contexts of a political agenda. This principle is not new."
Trangbaek then continued, "In cases where we receive requests for donations or support for projects, such as the possibility of purchasing Lego bricks in large quantities, where we are made aware that there is a political context, we therefore kindly decline support."
