Nicholas Baume, Director and Chief Curator of Public Art Fund will discuss the acclaimed citywide exhibition Good Fences Make Good Neighbors (on view through Feb. 11). Ai Weiwei conceived this multi-site, multi-media exhibition for public spaces, monuments, buildings, transportation sites, and advertising platforms throughout New York City. Collectively, these elements comprise a passionate response to the global migration crisis and a reflection on the profound social and political impulse to divide people from each other. For Ai, these themes have deep roots. He experienced exile with his family as a child, life as an immigrant and art student in New York, and more recently, brutal repression as an artist and activist in China. The exhibition draws on many aspects of Ai’s career as a visual artist and architect, and is informed by both his own life experience and the plight of displaced people.
www.publicartfund.org/ai_weiwei_good_fences_make_good_neighbors