Ai Wei Wei.
Is a Chinese visual artist, primarily working with sculptures and installation works.
About the exhibition:
“Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” up through Feb. 11, can’t be contained inside a gallery or even within a public plaza. It spans all of New York City, with large-scale installations, murals, banners and photographs commenting on the refugee crisis mounted in 300 locations throughout the five boroughs.he works are displayed on top of buildings, around bus shelters and at newsstand kiosks, as well as in heavily trafficked public spaces such as Washington Square Park and Central Park. They include fences and cages (symbolizing the ways in which nations and cultures create divisions), as well as digital screens and printed banners featuring the faces of displaced persons, both famous (Albert Einstein, Piet Mondrian) and unknown (vintage snapshots of immigrants coming in through Ellis Island, Ai’s own photos from the Shariya refugee camp in Iraq).
My response to the works:
The scale, material and pattern works immediately caught me in blank amazement. The installations incite a sense of entrapment and anxiety from it. Ai’s attempt in making a criticism against the contemporary global boarder situation seems to be a success. The installations at first glance leaves the viewer to be in astonished from its beautiful symmetry and grand scale. However, as the viewer interacts with the work by stepping in, the sense of entrapment and discomfort immediately haunts them. The juxtaposition between the beautiful structure and the alarming sensation speaks to Ai’s criticism against the current boarder situation we are facing globally.
My Questions:
To what extent does the gallery being exhibited at New York City benefit the works? If the installations were to be exhibited at a different location, where could it be without losing the integrity of the artists intentions?
Citations:
https://www.publicartfund.org/ai_weiwei_good_fences_make_good_neighbors/about
https://ny.curbed.com/2017/10/5/16431160/ai-weiwei-washington-square-park-installation
