You may think you’re seeing double, or even triple, but it’s actually the newest art installation at The Forks.
“Forever Bicycles” is a 30-foot art piece using 1,254 bicycles by internationally renowned artist and political dissident Ai Weiwei.
“Public art is something we’ve always championed at The Forks,” says Clare MacKay, executive director of The Forks Foundation.
“It’s an amazing piece, but what makes it even better is his connection and our connection to human rights.
“The reason it is where it is is because we wanted it to be in view of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.”
Thanks to a generous donation, the piece will stay at the CN Field for two years, with a possible extension to three years.
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MacKay says it hearkens back to Weiwei’s childhood in China, when bicycles proliferated across the country, yet many still couldn’t afford them.
Weiwei has faced years of persecution in his home country due to his activism.
A well-known piece lists the names and birthdays of thousands of Chinese children killed when shoddily-built schools collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
In 2008, he designed the Beijing Olympics’ iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, only to disavow it, saying it had become a symbol of autocracy.
A year later, he underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain, which allegedly occurred at the hands of police.
Authorities demolished his studio in Beijing just last year.
Forever Bicycles is expected to be complete in time for Nuit Blanche this weekend.