Ai Weiwei Refugee Art Installation At Konzerthaus Berlin

At Berlin Refugees, we love to feature what people are doing to bring attention to the refugee crisis and help refugees here in the city.

We were more than thrilled when Chinese artist Ai Weiwei brought out a new art project paying tribute to the million plus refugees who’ve made their way to Europe over the past year or so.

Ai Weiwei Refugee Art Installation at Konzerthaus Berlin

14,000 lifejackets now adorn the six columns in front of Berlin’s Konzerthaus at Gendarmenmarkt in Mitte.

According to designboom, the intention of the art installation is to not only bring attention the refugee crisis itself, but to highlight “the countless lives changed by the crisis, with every single vest reflecting the individual life of a man, woman or child whose landing at Lesbos is just the beginning.”

A lifeboat hangs in the center of the installation, with a sign that reads #safepassage.

The lifejackets were actually used by refugees who were enroute to Europe via the Greek island of Lesbos.

Weiwei, who’s visited the island multiple times since the crisis began received approval from municipal authorities to have the lifejackets shipped to Berlin for use in his art project.

Thousands of these lifejackets still remain on beaches and landfills in Lesbos.

This brings to mind our story about B, a Syrian refugee who arrived in Berlin early last fall.

Like so many others B. endured the dangerous sea journey from Turkey to Greece. During the ride, B. said “I was thinking about my life. That I didn’t deserve to come to Europe in this way. I thought how I did everything in my life in a good manner and questioned why was life forcing me to come in this way? Isn’t there another way?”

One of those discarded lifejackets could be his.

Ai Weiwei made headlines recently, first when he closed his exhibition in Copenhagen to protest one of their new asylum laws and then shocking the world when he posed as the drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi.

The art installation is only at the Konzerthaus Berlin temporarily.

Interested in helping refugees in Berlin? Then read this article about what it’s like to volunteer at a refugee shelter in Berlin. Or read this helpful article from Finding Berlin.