"Artist Ai Weiwei hits out over Lego 'censorship'", 25 Oct 2015

Artist Ai Weiwei has accused Lego of "censorship and discrimination" after the company refused to allow him to use its bricks in a new exhibition. Lego refused a bulk order for bricks that were to be used in a new artwork about political dissidents as part of an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia…The artist has since been deluged with offers of Lego from supporters.

The Chinese artist said the company told the museum its bricks could not be used for artworks containing "any political, religious, racist, obscene or defaming statements". Referring to The Lego Movie's slogan "everything is awesome", Ai wrote on Twitter: "Lego will tell us what to do, or not to do. That is awesome!"…

Lego spokesman Roar Rude Trangbaek would not comment directly on the case but said that, as a principle, Lego "respects any individual's right to free, creative expression". But he added that the company had a long-standing policy not to directly sell to anyone if it knew that its bricks would be used to make a political statement.

The artist also linked Lego's stance with plans for a new Legoland in Shanghai. Lego said the theme park was being built by Merlin Entertainment and not Lego, but that Lego does have some ties with Merlin because it uses the Lego brand…