( CNN ) -- It 's no coincidence that Ai Weiwei 's latest exhibition is located in Alcatraz , a former jail that sits on an isolated island off the San Francisco coast . The Chinese artist and activist explores themes of imprisonment , featuring prisoners of conscience from around the world . It 's also familiar territory for Ai , who was detained by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011 and still can not travel out of China . Visitors to Ai 's exhibit , called @ Large , can sit in a drab , 8x5 feet concrete cell and listen to the works of dissidents , such as anti-Apartheid singers and anti-Soviet musicians whose poems or songs landed them in prison . Among them is Lolo , a Tibetan singer whose song implores the children of Tibet to `` raise the Tibetan flag . '' Lolo is serving a six-year prison sentence for calling for independence -- a direct challenge to China 's rule . In another installation , the image of Liu Xiaobo , the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner , fashioned out of black , grey , blue and white Lego peers out at visitors . Liu , who called for the end of China 's single-party rule , is serving an 11-year prison sentence . Tiananmen and 'June Fourth ' in the body of Liu Xiaobo . The theme of confinement and suppression runs throughout the former U.S. federal penitentiary . Although Alcatraz is better known for holding feared inmates like U.S. gangster Al Capone , the prison also held Native Americans who balked at mandatory U.S. assimilation policies and conscientious objectors , who refused to serve in the military on political or religious grounds . Photos : A Chinese dragon in Alcatraz . Ai does n't back off critiquing the United States , by crediting Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning among the 176 people around the world who have been imprisoned or exiled because of their beliefs or affiliations . He pays tribute to them by forming their faces out of 1.2 million Lego pieces . Contemporary artistic dissent . Through his art , Ai declares : `` Every one of us is a potential convict . '' When Ai 's exhibit on Alcatraz officially opened in late September , it coincided with mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong . During that weekend , police in Hong Kong arrested about 70 student protesters , including several of its young leaders , in the mass call for democracy . That protest , fueled by youngsters , is now continuing into its fourth week in Hong Kong . It 's important that the work can appeal to the next generation , says Cheryl Haines , the curator of the @ Large exhibit . Some of the artworks are interactive , encouraging viewers to walk , view more closely or even get involved -- especially in one installation where they can write postcards to imprisoned dissidents . `` It invigorates the viewers to interact with the work , '' said Haines , the executive director of FOR-SITE , a foundation which organized the exhibit . They also brought wifi to Alcatraz for the first time so visitors could send Instagrams and Tweets from the island . `` It 's keeping with the artist 's desire to activate the next generation 's conversation , '' Haines said . In a sense , it already has . Protest art has proliferated on the streets of Hong Kong , whether it 's calling for democracy or lampooning its chief executive through postcards , paintings and pop-up installations . Symbols of democracy and free speech plaster the walls , highway barriers , bridges and stairways . Umbrellas , which symbolize the Hong Kong protests , dot the roads . Slogans are painted on posters hanging from prominent bridges -- suggesting the political power of art . Inside a prison cell . As Ai is still unable to leave China , he and his team constructed the pieces in their studio . He then sent three teams to the United States to erect the seven art installations inside Alcatraz 's dining room , labor building , the psychiatric observation cells , hopsital and inside the cell block . Perhaps the most haunting of exhibits is `` Stay Tuned , '' where the voice of dissent singing or reciting a poem or speech booms inside the small , isolated prison cells . Housed inside Alcatraz Cellblock A , there 's a haunting chill within the concrete mass . Each prison cell behind chipped white steel bars contains just a solitary stool and a stained white sink . Some of the cells in Block A were used for solitary confinement . Visitors can walk inside each of the 12 cells , which represent the imprisonment of dissidents like Russia 's Pussy Riot , Martin Luther King Jr. , and the Robben Island Singers , who were anti-Apartheid singers . They can sit inside the barren concrete cell and listen to their voices . One visit Eileen Kurahashi , sat inside each of them , closing her eyes shut . `` It 's a powerful access to something so tragic and breathtaking , '' she said . The voice of dissident plays in a loop -- but the sound remains confined into a prison reminding visitors of the cost of free expression .
Chinese artist Ai Wei opens installation on the island . Ai 's theme includes themes of imprisonment , torture . It also aims to raise awareness about prisoners of conscience . Along with notorious criminals , Alcatraz also features conscientious objectors and Native Americans .