Zhou Fengsuo

Badiucao may be a lone dissident, taking on the world's largest government, but he is
convinced his is no exercise in futility.

Jon Wertheim: You said you admire the mythological figure, Sisyphus.

Badiucao: Right.

Jon Wertheim: What'd you mean by that?

Badiucao: His mission seems, like, doomed. That he will never push the rock to the very top
of the mountain. It's a bit like me when I'm creating artworks to challenge the Chinese
regime. I don't know when it will be changed. Or I don't know if my work will change it at all.
But even if that is a reality, does it mean my work has no meaning? I don't think so.

In September, Badiucao brought out his paintbrush, to convey his outrage for China's
crackdown on Hong Kong. Fashioning Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam as a puppet of Xi
Jinping, Badiucao melded their faces. Last November in northern Italy, a center of art, that
combined image greeted visitors as Badiucao held his first major solo exhibition in the city
of Brescia. It almost didn't happen. At the last minute, China tried to flex its muscle.

Badiucao: They're actually writing threatening letters. It's like a blackmailing, you know? "If
you do Badiucao's show, then maybe in the future our collaboration will be problematic."

Specifically, the Chinese Embassy in Rome demanded the show be cancelled because the
exhibition was "full of anti-Chinese lies," would "seriously wound the feelings of the Chinese
people" and posed "a threat to friendly relations between China and Italy." The Italian
authorities held firm and the show went on. There was a nod to what Badiucao sees as Xi's
willfully slow response to COVID. And he paid homage to the Uighur minority that China has
imprisoned.

Jon Wertheim: To what extent are you representing the people that can't express
themselves inside China?

Badiucao: I think this is the reality that Chinese people do not have a sense of safety that
they can speak freely. But I am in this very privileged position that I'm not in China. So I
have every responsibility to make my voice to be heard, to become their voices.
Produced by Draggan Mihailovich and Jacqueline Williams. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth
Germino. Edited by Daniel J. Glucksman.

Trending News

02
Astropad Studio update brings Custom Quick Keys for iPad as a
professional drawing tablet

Astropad Studio, the sharp software that lets you run your favorite creative Mac or PC apps
on iPad has received a valuable update today with Custom Quick Keys. The addition means
you can add seven personalized on screen keys to your iPad.

The Astropad Studio 5.1 update landed today with the company detailing the Custom Quick
Keys feature in a blog post and video walkthrough.

“Tired of pushing way too many buttons on your iPad or having to swap to your desktop
keyboard for simple shortcuts? This new feature allows you to add up to seven custom on
screen keys to help improve your workflow!”

Here’s what to expect:

 Customize – set your Custom Quick Keys up for any combination of keyboard
commands.
 Per-app customization – keys stored per app, so you can have one set for Photoshop
and another for Illustrator, etc.
 Hide/show modifier keys – Hide some or all of the traditional modifier keys like Option (⌥)
or CTRL (⌘). For example, if you use Option (⌥) for selecting colors but don’t need the
other keys like Command (⌘) or Shift, you can now hide everything but Option (⌥).
That means you don’t have to open the Sidebar all the time to access frequent actions,
some suggestions Astropad has for custom keys include:

 Switching tools
 Changing brush sizes or colors
 Adding or removing layers
 Changing between frames
Astropad Studio works with Mac and PC to turn iPad into a professional drawing tablet. For
existing subscribers, the new update is a free upgrade, and if you haven’t tried it before it
comes with a free 14-day trial. After that, it runs $14.99/month or $99.99/year.

Check out a closer look at the custom quick keys in the video walkthrough:

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