i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. much more to come on nhk world japan, so please do stay with us. >>> welcome to "newsline in dept depth". we interview one of the most influence shl chinese artists working today, he received an award in the field of sculpture. although his work transcends that category alone. this series of photographs documents ai dropping and smashing a 2,000-year-old urn, an act raising questions about the value of historic artifacts. for this work, he carpeted the floor of a museum with 100 million handcrafted sunflower seeds. all look the same, but each is individual, much like the population of china. ai won world recognition as one of the designers of the beijing olympic stadium, nicknamed the bird's nest. whatever the genre, ai's works have always challenged viewers, as well as the political and social status quo. he's also an outspoken defender of human rights, which has set him at odds with the chinese government. now based in europe, he continues to create works that confront the contradic