1 of 2. ''Snake Ceiling,'' by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, is pictured at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo in 2009, in this handout photograph obtained on October 2, 2012. The work is part of Ai's first major U.S. art exhibition scheduled for launch at Washington's Hirshhorn Museum on October 6, 2012. The show, ''Ai Weiwei: According to What?'', groups sculpture, photography, video, audio and installation work.

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 2, 2012 4:50pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's most famous political dissident, Ai Weiwei, launches his first major U.S. art exhibition on Sunday with some unflinchingly political works, including an image of his brain bleeding from a police beating.

The show, "Ai Weiwei: According to What?" at Washington's Hirshhorn Museum groups sculpture, photography, video, audio and installation work.

The choice of the Hirshhorn on the National Mall reflects Ai's desire to connect with political leaders, hundreds of foreign diplomats and the network of think tanks in the U.S. capital, museum director Richard Koshalek told reporters.

Ai said in a statement: "This exhibition has been an opportunity to re-examine past work and communicate with audiences from afar. I see it as a stream of activities rather than a fixed entity."

Ai's 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry. Activists see authorities' tax evasion case against him as an attempt to muzzle the artist over his criticism of the Chinese government.

The exhibition fills much of the ring-shaped museum with scores of Ai's works. It centers on such themes as the relationship between art, society and individual experience.

The works include dozens of ink jet prints of the construction of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Stadium, which he helped design, and "China Log," a 63-inch-high (1.61-metre-high) map of China made of ironwood taken from demolished temples.

Much of show is devoted to the deadly 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province and the thousands of schoolchildren who died when shoddily constructed buildings collapsed. Ai was among the dissidents who had challenged Chinese authorities to investigate the deaths.

The ghostlike magnetic resonance image of his bleeding brain, measuring 3.3 by 6.5 feet, he attributes to a 2009 police beating.

"Snake Ceiling" is a 295-foot (90-meter) sculpture of a twisting snake made from student backpacks and mounted on the museum's ceiling.

A wall-sized print shows the names of 5,000 students killed in the quake. They are recited on a three-hour, 41-minute voice recording nearby.

Ai, 55, who is not allowed to leave China, was in frequent contact with organizers about how his works were displayed, curator Mami Kataoka said.

China is piling more pressure on Ai, with the artist saying on Tuesday that authorities have revoked the business license of the company that produces his art.

"Ai Weiwei: According to What?" runs at the Hirshhorn until February 24, 2013. It then travels to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Miami's Perez Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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1 of 9. Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (C) buys fruit from a local vendor on the street outside the Chaoyang District Court before trying to attend his appeal verdict hearing in Beijing September 27, 2012.

BEIJING | Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:21am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court upheld a $2.4 million tax evasion fine against China's most famous dissident Ai Weiwei on Thursday, ending his long legal battle with the authorities but paving the way for him to be jailed if he does not pay.

The loss of Ai's second appeal in a higher court means that the world-renowned artist could risk arrest if he does not pay a remaining fine of around 6.6 million yuan ($1.05 million), in a case that has further tarnished China's poor human rights reputation.

He has paid a bond of 8.45 million yuan already lodged with the tax authorities to contest the tax charge.

Ai, whose 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry, told Reuters he will not pay the remaining fine as that would be tacit acknowledgement of the case's legality, which he has always maintained is trumped up.

Ai said he is uncertain whether he faces arrest if he doesn't do so.

"If I need to go to jail, there's nothing I can do about it," Ai said. "This country has no fairness and justice, even if I've paid the 6 million yuan, I still could possibly go to jail. They don't need an excuse to arrest me - they can always find another excuse at any time."

The case is widely seen by activists as an attempt to muzzle the outspoken artist, who has repeatedly criticized the Chinese government for flouting the rule of law and the rights of citizens.

Ai, 55, had asked the Chaoyang District Court to overturn the city tax office's rejection of his appeal against the 15 million yuan ($2.38 million) tax evasion penalty imposed on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, which produces his art and designs.

Ai, who has waged a near five-month long legal battle with a Beijing tax agency, said he could not appeal further and has not enough cash to pay the remaining 6.6 million yuan, adding that the tax agency has not given him a deadline to pay.

Government efforts to silence Ai have frequently backfired, as demonstrated by an outpouring of public sympathy - and cash - in response to the tax penalty.

Ai had collected more than 9 million yuan, he says he will start to return, from about 30,000 donors, to pay the bond. Many of Ai's supporters folded money into paper planes that were flown over the walls of his home.

Earlier, an angry Ai, who was allowed to attend court in person for the first time and without an obvious police presence, said he scolded the judge for being a "shame and a disgrace".

"It (the court) didn't respect the facts or give us a chance to defend ourselves; it has no regard for taxpayers' rights," he told reporters.

He said the court had flouted Chinese law by not providing a written notification of the appeal verdict three days in advance, and only notifying his wife, Lu Qing, by telephone earlier this week. One of his lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, is in France and could not make it back in time.

Ai's loss of his appeal is a predictable outcome in a country where the courts, controlled by the ruling Communist Party, toe the government line. It also underscores Beijing's increasing intolerance of dissent ahead of a tricky transition of power later this year.

"I never imagined the court would disregard the facts this much, be so unreasonable and so insulting," Ai said.

($1 = 6.3066 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Maxim Duncan; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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