Scocca

Ai Weiwei Could Not Attend His Art Opening in New York

For today’s edition of Slate’s dead-tree sibling publication, I went to cover the opening of

Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads”

yesterday, at Grand Army Plaza. The artist—who lived in New York for a decade, and who has shows this month around the world—was absent; more than a month after his

detention by Chinese authorities

, he remains missing.