Máximo Caminero protests by destroying a $1M Ai Weiwei vase

A million-dollar protest. That's what Máximo Caminero, a 51-year-old Dominican artist based in Miami (United States), pulled off when he smashed a vase valued at a million dollars belonging to Ai Weiwei's artwork "Colored Vases" on the floor. The 16 vases are part of the solo show "Ai Weiwei: According to What?", on at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) until 16 March.

Apparently, he did it to denounce the fact that the museum only exhibits artworks by foreign artists and ignores local ones. According to Caminero, it was a spontaneous protest, since he saw Ai Weiwei's artwork "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn" (three black and white photographs in which he appears holding and dropping a Han dynasty urn on the floor, from 206 BC to 220 AD) and thought it was a good way to join the Chinese activist's protest. He never imagined they were valued at a million dollars and he has already apologised to the artist (whose follower he says he is), since he understands he had no right to destroy someone else's artwork.

Reactions have been very mixed among artists, other professionals in the sector and Ai Weiwei himself. Some support Caminero and see his act as "the bravest ever carried out by an artist in Miami" (Sergio García, Cuban artist), others don't see it as a protest but as an act of vandalism and a huge show of disrespect, and the artist, Ai Weiwei, thinks his arguments don't back up what he did, that you can't destroy someone else's property that way, though at the same time he has played it down.

Most of the people who have had their say wanted to separate the message of the protest from the act of destroying the vase itself. What do you think about whether galleries should support local artists or not? Do you think Máximo Caminero's is a valid way to protest? He could face up to 5 years in prison for committing an offence against intellectual property, is that a fair punishment or over the top?

You can read more about the PAMM exhibition here

And if you want to see Máximo Caminero's artworks, this is his page on Artelista: maximocaminero.artelista.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sexj1BJsnBk