After much debate and pushback from the community, Ai Weiwei’s Good Fences Make Good Neighbors exhibit still went up under the Washington Square Park Arch on October 6th. The first of over 300 art installations that are currently rising across all five boroughs.
Weiwei’s Public Art Fund project is the largest in NYC history. It brings a new light to the refugee and immigration issues we are currently facing globally. Part of this vast project is his upcoming documentary which also centers around the refugee crisis. The documentary, titled “Human Flow”, opens this Saturday (October 13).
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The Good Fences Make Good Neighbors exhibition will continue from now until February 11, 2018. Each installation serves as a constant reminder of how fences divide people, by physically making it more challenging to maneuver around the artwork. The densely populated and somewhat controversial locations were intentional artistic choices by Ai Weiwei.
Each of the works will grow out of the existing urban infrastructure, using the fabric of the city as its base and drawing attention to the role of the fence in dividing people. In doing so, the artist highlights how this form, ubiquitous yet also potent, can alter how we perceive and relate to our environment.
All pieces will be up in NYC by October 12. For a full list of locations click here.
Featured image source: Instagram/aiww