Ai Weiwei - Relating to Refugees - Humanity House
NL

Exhibition

listing
01.09.17 t/m 31.12.20

Ai Weiwei – Relating to Refugees

Two spaces at Humanity House are covered with thousands of iPhone photos taken by artist and activist Ai Weiwei in refugee camps in Germany, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and Kenya. Relating to Refugees captures the enormity of the refugee crisis today.

Faces of hope and despair, deflated lifeboats, discarded life jackets, makeshift settlements and a day-to-day existence are captured in over 16,500 photos taken by Ai Weiwei on his iPhone during visits to refugee camps in Germany, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and Kenya. Taken together, the images in Relating to Refugees convey the massive scale of the refugee crisis.

As a political refugee, Ai Weiwei feels an affinity with the growing numbers of migrants who are trying to reach Europe. He documents the migration of hundreds of thousands of individuals who have fled from oppression in one system, and who then often encounter strict asylum procedures and xenophobia in another system.

Since his first visit to the Greek island of Lesbos in December 2015, the Instagram feed of Ai Weiwei and his team has become something of a real-time news service. As a contemporary tapestry, Relating to Refugees also symbolizes Ai Weiwei’s use of the Internet and social media platforms. He considers blogs, Twitter and Instagram as democratic spaces that allow for free speech and expression and as platforms to raise awareness.

Relating to Refugees was previously part of the exhibition #SafePassage by Ai Weiwei, on show at Foam Amsterdam in the autumn of 2016.

Please note: Relating to Refugees is always open during weekends. It may be closed to the public on weekdays. If you want to be certain that you can see the entire wallpaper, please contact us in advance at info@humanityhouse.org.

Opening times

  • 10:00 - 17:00
  • 12:00 - 17:00

About Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is renowned for making strong aesthetic statements that resonate with timely phenomena across today’s geopolitical world. From architecture to installations, social media to documentaries, Ai uses a wide range of mediums as expressions of new ways for his audiences to examine society and its values. Recent exhibitions include: Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., Maybe, Maybe Not at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Law of the Journey at the National Gallery in Prague, Ai Weiwei. Libero at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, #SafePassage at Foam in Amsterdam, translocation – transformation at 21er Haus in Vienna, and Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Ai was born in Beijing in 1957 and currently resides and works in both Beijing and Berlin. Ai is the current Einstein Visiting Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), and he is the recipient of the 2015 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation.