Ai Weiwei On 'Soft Detention' As UK Show Begins

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been speaking to Sky News from his home in Beijing as the largest UK exhibition of his work goes on show at Blenheim Palace.

He spoke to us about the implications of his confinement in China on his work.

"I still don't have a chance to leave this nation for the past three or four years and I'm kind of under soft detention which makes everything a little bit difficult," he said.

"But still I try to see this is the given condition for my art, I have to really respect the condition and make something happen so what you see there is an artist who is not really allowed to leave this nation and he's still trying to make art."

Ai Weiwei is one of the world's most important artists, fearless in his social activism; he's been interrogated, beaten and locked up.

He's unable to move around freely in Beijing and certainly not allowed to leave the country, his passport having been confiscated by the government.

He organised the show at Blenheim remotely using 3D plans and detailed drawings.

It includes around 50 pieces spanning four decades including sculpture, photography and specially commissioned pieces.

Michael Frahm, director of the Blenheim Art Foundation, told Sky News: "He's very much using his art to communicate his messages and he's a unique character because he really stands up for what he believes in; freedom of speech, equality, he brings many cases of corruption to light in China which no-one else would do - he just keeps pushing.

"He has a really global appeal from the art connoisseur who loves the minimal art he's creating, to the other side of the spectrum, to the way he's touching people's lives in more political or cultural sort of senses."

This exhibition marks the launch of the Blenheim Art Foundation whose aim is to show some of the world's most innovative contemporary artists and also represents the trend for the country's stately homes to diversity in order to remain relevant.

Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill started the foundation and it was his passion for art which inspired its creation.

He told Sky News: "I've developed a love of contemporary art for the last 15 years.

"At the moment we present art in white boxes and I don't think that's a very liveable way of presenting things.

"Through the ages you don't get the segregation by time, I want to mix it up a bit because I think it gives a more interesting experience for the audience and for the artist."