Calling attention to the refugee crisis through art, by Ana Cretiu

Ai Weiwei's latest art performance

Ai Weiwei, a Chinese dissident artist and activist known for his critical view of the Chinese government and use of art to comment on human rights issues, has a new cause.

Addressing the refugee crisis, Ai wrapped 14,000 refugee life jackets around the five columns of Berlin’s Konzerthaus to highlight the increasing number of people risking their lives to reach Europe in search of refuge from conflict and hardship.

The temporary art installation, created for the Cinema of Peace Gala – of which the artist is the honorary jury president – collected the life jackets from refugees who crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. His work aims to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the people struggling to reach safety, using the mass of life vests to highlight the many lives changed in the crisis. It points to the sobering fact that over 400 people have died attempting the same journey since only the beginning of 2016.

Ai has been documenting the refugee crisis via Instagram, showing the human faces of an issue that demands ever more urgent action. Speaking in a recent interview about his response to the crisis, Ai said, “I’m ready for anything as long as I can generate discussion on this issue. If I can use being in the spotlight to highlight what’s happening in Lesbos, then that’s a starting point.”