Ai Weiwei: Fondation, Lisson Gallery

Ai Weiwei is one of the most important artists of the 21st century. He is more than an artist: Ai has become the international poster boy for freedom of expression in China; he has been the subject of much persecution by the authorities as a result. The iconoclastic artist had his Chinese passport revoked in 2012. His socially conscious works and outspoken critiques of the government were banned: to this day, if you type his name into Chinese google, nothing comes up.

Ai transforms familiar objects into works of art that are both socially engaged and aesthetically enticing. Seeds, steel rods, handcuffs, gas marks, CCTV cameas, cosmetic bottles, even his father's chair, refashioned in alluring materials such as fine woods, marble, jade and glass. His gestures are grand and intimate at once, harnessing this paradox to explore the tensions of day-to-day life with perfected simplicity.

For Londoners he is best known for his astoundingly successful retrospective at the RA last year. Before that, it was pouring hundreds of millions of handmade porcelain sunflower seeds onto the floor of Tate Modern’s Turbine hall back in 2010 .

Now, Ai comes back to London for a new show at the Lisson Gallery. Fondation makes use of stone foundations from centuries-old Chinese halls, from which column bases have been extracted and assembled in a sprawling grid-like formation.

Intended a public place of assembly and discussion, visitors are invited to sit upon the bases of the pillars and reflect on the future.

Fondation is shown alongside 258 Fake (2011), an installation of 12 monitors that display a total of 7,677 rapidly changing photographs.

The speed and unique distribution of images reflect both the immediacy and transient experience of social media and surveillance - typical Ai Weiwei themes.

Don't miss the chance to brush up against some of the most important art of our generation this winter.