Ai Weiwei Public Art Project Installed In Washington Square Park

WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK, NY — A massive installation designed by the artist Ai Weiwei is going up in Washington Square Park on Thursday.

The giant cage, which sits directly beneath the park's famous arch, is part of a citywide public art project from the renowned artist.

The exhibition is expected to be completed by Oct. 12.

The cage in Washington Square Park is on of hundreds of fences and related imagery going up throughout the city as part of a commentary on borders and the current migration crisis. The project, which will be one of the biggest Ai has ever undertaken, was commissioned by the Public Art Fund. All told, the exhibit will be scattered in more than 300 sties throughout the city. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The Beijing-based artist became one of China's most famous contemporary dissidents when he was jailed for 81 days. His work has been shown throughout the world, and lately he has focused on the current refugee crisis.

There will be large-scale works at the Washington Square Arch, in Central Park and in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Smaller-site specific "intervention" will be installed on top of and near several private buildings, including Cooper Union, plus sculptural interventions at bus shelters and 200 two-dimensional works that will be distributed to lamppost banners in all five boroughs, according to the Public Art Fund.

Ai explained to the New York Times in March that the timely piece is intended as a comment on nativist impulses throughout the U.S. and the world

"We are witnessing a rise in nationalism, an increase in the closure of borders, and an exclusionary attitude towards migrants and refugees, the victims of war and the casualties of globalization," he told the paper.

The exhibition will remain up through February.

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch