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Ai Weiwei's new art work lights up London's Piccadilly Circus

CA, 02 Oct 2020
New work from renowned Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei received a big screen premiere in London on Thursday, launching a month-long residency for Ai in the British capital.

Ai's work illuminated the bustling corner of Piccadilly Circus on Europe's largest 4K screen for two minutes.

Titled "New York Days" the digital art work is the artist's first instalment on the enormous digital canvas. The two-minute episode is said to express Ai's personal experiences of life in the Big Apple, including the civil rights movement and his friendship with iconic artist Andy Warhol.

During the month of October a new two-minute art episode by Ai will be screened in Piccadilly Circus every day.

The October episodes are expected to take viewers on a journey from the beginnings of Ai's career in the 1970s to the current COVID-19 pandemic, according to CIRCA, which created and organized the project.

In a press release Ai said he hoped his new artwork would provoke thought and debate amongst viewers, adding that he would provide the public with a strong message and visual feast combined with quotes taken from his own written works.

Ai Weiwei rose to global stardom in the 1980s with artworks which drew attention to China's social issues, while the Chinese Communist Party became increasingly intolerant of any form of dissent.

Subsequently, Ai spent four years under house arrest in China for his political activism.

Ai left China in 2015 and is currently residing in the United Kingdom. In recent years he has become a vocal campaigner on migration.

Each month a different artist will take over the residency on the giant screen until the end of the year, CIRCA said.

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