Ai Wei Wei Continues To Address Refugee Crisis With New Exhibition In Vienna

 
Art & Culture

Conceptual artist, documentarian and activist, Ai Wei Wei has unveiled yet another eye opening controversial exhibition in Vienna this summer highlighting the severity of the refugee crisis. 

The artist has floated over 1,005 used refugee life jackets in the baroque ponds of Belvedere Palace. The piece titled, ‘F Lotus’, enables the public to see over 201 rings comprised of five life jackets each, which float on the water like lotus blossoms. 

This comes after his controversial stint in Berlin, which saw Ai Wei Wei tie 14,000 life jackets to the pillars of the concert hall, demonstrating how so many are struggling to reach safety. Ai Wei Wei, who has been vocal about the current crisis is currently making a documentary shooting footage in Greek and Macedonian refugee camps. The activist studio is currently based on the Greek island, Lesbos, which has become a gateway for refugees from Turkey, where he collected the discarded life jackets. 

The artist who famously said, ‘Everything is Art. Everything is Politics’, recently cancelled his exhibition in Copenhagen, ‘Raptures’, after Parliament passed a new law allowing Danish authorities to seize possessions of asylum seekers. 


 

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