The Chinese artist and political dissident Ai Weiwei was one of the most famous prisoners in recent history. Now he’s taking on one of the most infamous prisons of all time, using Alcatraz as the inspiration and site for a series of new artworks to debut next September.

It’s an unusual chapter for Alcatraz, the first time the former penitentiary is opening its extra-strength, tool-proof steel doors for a major contemporary artist, according to the National Park Service. It also promises to be a high-profile project for Mr. Ai, who said by phone from Beijing that he has never visited Alcatraz but is interested in exploring conditions in which individuals are stripped of basic human rights: “The idea of loss of freedom as a punishment raises philosophical questions.”

“I have too many friends today who are still in jail,” he added. “The fact that people who are fighting for freedom have lost their freedom being incarcerated is more than ironic.”

Mr. Ai himself was detained for 81 days in 2011 on tax evasion charges, following his lengthy investigation into the Chinese government for shoddy construction that contributed to the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in their classrooms during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Supporters of Mr. Ai said the tax inquiry was a pretext to silence one of the most outspoken critics of China’s government. The 56-year-old artist remains subject to travel restrictions. (Do not, for example, expect him at the grand opening of the Pérez Art Museum Miami this week, where his retrospective is the big inaugural show.) “My passport has been in the hands of police for almost three years now,” he said. “I’ve lost my ability to travel.”