Community Protests Ai Weiwei’s Planned “Fences” In Washington Square Park
By Julee WJ Chung
Rendering of one piece in the multi-part Public Art Fund project Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors at Washington Square Park. Courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio / Frahm & Frahm.
Washington Square Association’s president Trevor Sumner also noted in his interview with Jake Offenhartz from New York’s Gothamist that the installation poses a “dangerous precedent as far as taking an artistic work and decorating it for a political purpose, especially for months at a time [. . .] The parks themselves are for people to get away, to seek some escape from the city and there’s going to be a giant political thing in their face the whole time. Ultimately, I understand why they hid it as long as they did.”
Offenhartz reports that a spokesperson at the Public Art Fund redressed Sumner’s statement, indicating that the organization had reached out and met with local organizations on the matter, including the Washington Square Park Association, Washington Square Park Conservancy and New York’s Community Board 2. He noted that Sumner’s claims were “grossly inaccurate.”
Julee WJ Chung is ArtAsiaPacific’s assistant editor.
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