Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most renowned Chinese artists, and introduced his largest public outdoor exhibition ever in all 5 boroughs earlier this year in New York City entitled “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”, presented by New York’s Public Art Fund.
With over 300 pieces, this thought provoking display of art combines sculptures, ad platforms and metal lamppost banners throughout the streets of New York City.
Ai Weiwei first emigrated to New York City in the 1980’s – and he spent over a decade working and studying here. Though he is now based in Berlin, this exhibition affords Ai Weiwei the unique opportunity to come home to the city he loves.
“Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” draws on many aspects of Ai Weiwei’s career as a visual artist and architect, as it was conceived as a multi-site, multi-media exhibition for public spaces, monuments and buildings. Ai Weiwei was inspired to make the exhibition by the plight of displaced peoples around the globe.
The title of the exhibition, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”, was chosen by Weiwei and is actually a proverb penned by American Poet Robert Frost. Frost used the line in his famous poem “Mending Wall” where the need for a boundary wall is being questioned. Weiwei is doing the same, as his “Good Fences” are meant to bring people together and not keep them apart.
Iconic areas around the city like Central Park, Washington Square Park, Cooper Union, The Bowery and Flushing Meadows Corona Park are all park of Ai Weiwei’s exhibition.
With pieces intertwined with the city’s landscape filling the most iconic areas with beautiful artwork, New York City makes the perfect canvas for an artist as creative and as daring as Ai Weiwei