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Sneak Peek At Ai Weiwei's Controversial Washington Square Park Installation
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 5, 2017
Modified Oct 5, 2017
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 5, 2017
Modified Oct 5, 2017
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Next week the city-wide installation from Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei—titled "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"—will be unveiled, with 300 works appearing in all five boroughs. The Washington Square Park piece, placed in the archway and set to displace the Christmas tree, has been protested by NIMBYs for months.
In August, Washington Square Association President Trevor Sumner told Gothamist, "The community feedback was almost universally negative... It's a political statement with many different sides to it [and] the parks themselves are for people to get away, to seek some escape from the city and there's going to be a giant political thing in their face the whole time."
The Public Art Fund's Nicholas Baume told the NY Times, "Every organization, with the exception of the Association, has been absolutely enthusiastic," noting they would pay for the relocation of the tree come holiday season.
As for the artist, Weiwei explained the piece's location, noting, "When I lived in New York in the '80s, I spent much of my time in Washington Square Park. This area was one of New York's most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods—a home to immigrants of all backgrounds. The triumphal arch has been a symbol of victory after war since antiquity. The basic form of a fence or cage suggests that it might inhibit movement through the arch, but instead a passageway cuts through this barrier—a door obstructed, through which another door opens."
The installation of the Washington Square Park piece has been going on all week, and is nearly complete—click through the photos above for a look.
The non-profit Public Art Fund, which commissioned it, will officially unveil the multi-site, multi-media exhibition on October 12th. The organization said in a statement that Weiwei's pieces are a "passionate response to the global migration crisis and a reflection on the profound social and political impulse to divide people from each other." Each component was "conceived for monuments, public spaces, buildings, transportation sites, and advertising platforms... across all five boroughs, creating powerful, immersive, and resonant additions to the fabric of the city."
Other pieces will be installed in Central Park, the Unisphere in Queens, and a number of Manhattan newsstand kiosks; you can find more locations here. The work will remain on view through February 11th.
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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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