ART THAT'S RELEVANT IS POLITICAL, SAYS PROVOCATIVE CHINESE ARTIST AI WEIWEI, THIS SUNDAY ON "60 MINUTES"

Ai Weiwei has paid dearly for his art. The Chinese government has beaten and jailed him, eventually driving him out of China, for his provocative work aimed at political authority. But despite the danger, he must be political to be relevant, he tells Holly Williams for a 60 MINUTES profile to be broadcast Sunday, May 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Watch the clip.

The globally recognized, wealthy artist now lives in Berlin, he says, for the safety of his young son. But he doesn't rule out returning to his homeland, where authorities tried to wipe his name and art from the public's view for his controversial expressions. In one instance, he published photos of himself giving the middle finger to an image of China's former dictator Mao Zedong. Is he an artist or an activist?

"I think artist and activist is the same thing," Ai tells Williams. "As an artist, you always have to be an activist." And to be a good artist, you need to be political, he says. "I think every art, if it's relevant, is political."

Ai spent time in New York City in the early 1980s, drawing inspiration from Andy Warhol and others. He made a meager living off of street art and returned to China after a decade, where he began to draw a lot of attention. In one performance-based work, he smashed a 2,000-year-old vase to symbolize the shattering of the Communist Party's version of history. Reminded by Williams that the urn was considered a priceless part of history by many Chinese, the artist responds, "For me to smash it is a valuable act."

His art now sells for prices in the millions, but much of his work cannot be purchased. When the Chinese government suppressed earthquake death counts of children who died under the rubble of shoddily built government schools, Ai ran a "citizen's investigation" that shamed and angered the government. He published the dead children's names on a website and had activists interview their parents. Ai was beaten severely by police.

He angered officials again when he trained his own cameras on people the government sent to surveil him, making them look silly. This time he went to jail and had his passport revoked. Cleverly, Ai once again outsmarted his antagonists when he was released. He recreated his jail cell in an art installation that got so much attention that the Chinese authorities returned his passport. He left for Berlin.

It might be dangerous for him to return to China. Will he ever give up his activism? "Never... .to freely express myself, to tell the truth... It's part of my life."

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