Ai Weiwei's new work lampoons the surveillance culture, social media

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses with his son Lao in front of a self portrait made by Lego at the San Giorgio deconsecrated church in Venice, Italy. Photo: AP

Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei warns against hubris in what he calls "such a troublesome time” with his first glass sculpture, made on the Venetian island of Murano, with the foreboding subtitle: Memento Mori, Latin for "Remember You Must Die.”

Russian bombs fall on Ukraine. China is flexing its military muscle in the Taiwan Strait. Migrants die repeatedly at sea as smugglers' boats sink. The Earth warms, creating drought, collapsing glaciers and triggering violent storms. The pandemic lingers.