World renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei recently exhibited a new edition of his sculptural installation Forever Bicycles at Toronto’s Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. Ai Weiwei’s previous versions of the installation consisting of 760 stacked bikes was exhibited at the Galleria Continua in Italy and another one consisting of 1200 bicycles was showcased at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in early 2012.
His latest version of ‘Forever Bicycles’ which was exhibited last week at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square consisted of 3144 interconnected bicycles that form a three-dimensional structure. Covering an area of 100 feet in length and 30 feet in width and height, the bicycles are illuminated using blue and pink lights creating an incredible visual effect during night time.
“Yong Jiu, literally translated as “forever”, is the foremost bicycle brand in China; Ai Weiwei re-interprets such everyday found objects in an abstract and symbolic way.
The sheer quantity of bikes and the diverse perceptions of viewing points create a colossal labyrinth-like, visually moving space, which represents the changing social environment in China and around the globe.”
Forever Bicycles 2013 will be on display until 27th October 2013 at Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto (At Bay Street).
Photograph © Jeremy Maxwell
Photograph © Zorawar Walia
Photograph © Kanwar Sandhu
Photograph © Tono Ariki
