Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 2012 London pavilion

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has spoken of his hopes to travel to London to see the sunken pavilion he has designed for the London 2012 Festival.

Since 2001, the Serpentine Gallery in London has commissioned a different artist every year to design a summer pavilion. For 2012, in honour of the Olympic Games, the project was awarded to architects Herzog & de Meuron and Mr Ai, who collaborated on the design of Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium.

Mr Ai is currently banned from leaving Beijing, so had to work with his architectural partners via Skype.

He told BBC Newsnight's Gavin Esler about his life under house arrest, where all his activities are regulated, and how he is still able to communicate with his followers on Twitter.