Al Jazeera – Ai Weiwei covers Berlin venue with 14,000 life jackets
Latest installation by renowned Chinese artist highlights plight of refugees risking their lives to reach Europe.
Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has once again highlighted the plight of refugees risking stormy waters to reach Europe.
In his latest art installation in Berlin, the 58-year-old artist used 14,000 life jackets to cover the columns of the German city’s famous Konzerthaus venue.
The bright orange vests were brought to Germany from the Greek island of Lesbos, where they had been abandoned on beaches after being used by refugees crossing from Turkey.
More than 400 people have died this year (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/400-refugees-die-europe-2016-160209133941502.html)trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and refugee crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly 10 times the rate of the same period last year, the International Organization for Migration said last week.
The activist, who often uses his social media accounts to highlight social issues, has repeatedly visited Lesbos since the beginning of the refugee crisis.
In late December, he began sharing pictures and videos from the Greek island on his personal Instagram page, drawing attention to the troubles suffered by the thousands of people making the dangerous journey to escape war and hardship.
Last month, Ai Weiwei announced the closure of his “Ruptures” exhibition (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/ai-weiwei-closes-denmark-exhibition-refugee-laws-160127153929884.html) in Copenhagen in protest against the Danish parliament’s approval of laws to deter asylum seekers from entering the country.
READ MORE: A portrait of the artist as a dead boy (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/02/portrait-artist-dead-boy-ai-weiwei-aylan-kurdi-refugees-160204095701479.html).
Al Jazeera, 13 Feb 2016 20:14 GMT
Comments:
1 hour ago
Michael Kinney
Gee, I guess they would have been better off staying at home and fighting for their country. 4 million flooded Europe. If only 20% had stayed and taken up arms the conflict would have been over years ago. But no. They run away like cowards and sponge off of the taxpayers of Europe… People that run away and won’t defend their country don’t deserve a country to live in.
2 hours ago
BITCH PUDDING
In other news:
MORE MIGRANT VIOLENCE: Second person killed at Swedish refugee centre in space of a month
Swedish police said Sunday they had launched a murder inquiry after one person was killed in a fight at a refugee centre, raising fresh concerns about security in the country’s increasingly overstretched asylum homes.
The latest incident comes less than a month after a 22-year-old female employee at a refugee centre was stabbed to death by an asylum seeker, in a case that shocked Sweden.
Police said they had arrested a suspect in connection with Saturday’s brawl at an asylum centre in the town of Ljusne, on Sweden’s east coast, but gave no further details.
“A preliminary investigation for murder and attempted murder is ongoing following the death of one person in a fight,” police said in a statement, which did not specify whether the victim was a migrant.
It is not known what triggered the clash but some 15 people were reportedly involved. Local media said the victim was believed to be a 20-year-old man.
Sweden took in a record 163,000 asylum seekers last year, the highest per capita number in Europe, and the authorities have been struggling to cope with the influx.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Sunday said measures had to be taken to ease tensions in some of the centres housing asylum seekers.
“We need to ensure security in the refugee centres,” he told Swedish news agency TT.
“One of the problems is that they are living in cramped conditions. Idleness is another issue and we want to work more closely with educational bodies and even sports federations so they can keep positively occupied while they wait (for asylum requests to be processed),” Lofven said.
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the number of incidents of violence or threats in asylum centres more than doubled in 2015 to 322 reported cases, up from 148 a year earlier.
3 hours ago
Quentin Poulsen
The man is not an artist. He’s a puppet of the West. Too bad, because it’s a good cause.
5 hours ago
Marininlina
Waste of money why didn’t he spend it on them?
16 hours ago
Fathers Initiative
You want to help these refugees? Then send them to CHINA, buddy. Where’s all the migrants in China? It’s a big country. They can handle a large influx. So then, why don’t you take the refugees? Why elected Europe to accept this burden? And, why don’t you blame the fathers of migrants for saving their own lives while leaving their wives and children in danger?
17 hours ago
infinitecanadia
This damned monkey should leave his trash elsewhere instead of trying to guilt Europe. Why doesn’t he mind his own business? He’s Chinese, not a Westerner.
12 hours ago
aribaribariba
you racist westerners are plaguing the planet with your hatred, invasions and opinions, so why shouldn’t others?
1 hour ago
Michael Kinney
Racist? Dude I have traveled the world an in my honest opinion Western folks are the least racist and most generous people on earth. After all, they are feeding 4 million refugee bums from the middle east, ay? What is your excuse?
21 hours ago
John Harrison
They should wrap this idiot up in a few of his own life jackets , push him out to sea and hope he floats all the way back to china, where they would know exactly what to do with him.
21 hours ago
Stephen
As long as anyone prefers to live here instead of somewhere else, our borders must remain open. And when the day comes that no one wants to live here anymore, because it has become the same hell hole that people came here to escape, someone else must open their borders.
23 hours ago
Midi Modi
Al Jazeera is like refugee news agency
24 hours ago
7_aphelion
That’s coming from a citizen of China, which by the figures has not taken any refugees Mainly because there is no free lunch there and the Chinese frown on any belligerent behaviour from anyone.
22 hours ago
Mariam Po
A few Chinese volunteers have shown up in Rojava to fight alongside the YPG so not everyone is indifferent. However, you are right on about China in general; a country conspicuously absent in helping out. Maybe Ai Wei Wei is their idea of a contribution to the discussion.
19 hours ago
aribaribariba
a chinese dissident is not allowed an independent voice yet australians who helped the u.s. create the mess in afghanistan and the middle east, of refugees and asylum seekers, are?
16 hours ago
7_aphelion
All that was needed was to hand a lot of sociopaths a match. The blood was on their hand and could have been avoided if the word NO was used. But Islamic history says otherwise. The adherents of Islam have been at each others throats for 1400 years. Just look to the first four caliphs, three of them were assassinated. Islam best generals/leaders; from Saladin on became the generals they were from internal conflicts rather than their exploits elsewhere. So it wasn’t too hard to imagine this scenario was on the cards if the right buttons were pushed.
12 hours ago
aribaribariba
7_aphelion
you failed to respond to the actual question, just went into overload on deflection and assumptions to try and excuse the major stuff up oz was part and parcel of.
24 hours ago
The
this idiot Ai WeiWei Promotes illegal passage into Europe
19 hours ago
aribaribariba
and you zionazis promote hatred and wars against muslims, to create more refugees to europe.
17 hours ago
infinitecanadia
How many times must I tell you, you IDIOT? HOW MANY BLOODY TIMES? The West is not responsible for the Syrian Civil War, poof!
aribaribariba
@infinitecandida
you ranting does not change reality of what i said but you just never know, infiniteignorance, just what the insidious cia, sly israelis and other devious entities get up to under the covers….until years later, usually.
but it is recorded that the zionazis and the other jewish death cult, neoconservatives, already planned to get rid of assad way back in the 90’s, so their fingerprints are probably on there somewhere.
1 day ago
Fetch_22
If we stop letting them in via the sea. they stop coming by boat. they stop drowning. It is harsh but simple.
1 day ago
Quentin Poulsen
The man is not an artist. He is a puppet of the West. Too bad, because it’s actually a good cause.
1 day ago
objktivjustice
Art is a depiction of life, & this is the harsh reality of life, where human beings let each other down.
17 hours ago
infinitecanadia
How is this a good cause? In what way specifically?
1 day ago
Aman Singh Kamboj
what is the art in that. oh it is that people with bad blood will not be able to under stand the stacking of so many life jackets.
1 day ago
George Silversurfer
Where is his photo lying on the beach just like that Syrian child?
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