Ai Weiwei Hands Out Free Artworks In London Park To Mark Human Rights Day
Last weekend, long lines formed in London’s Hyde Park as excited passersby queued for freebies, but this wasn’t just any kind of giveaway. Turns out, iconic artist Ai Weiwei was on the scene to hand out free artwork in order to raise funds for refugees.
Those in line received A4, a work that, at first glance, seems like a piece of blank A4 paper. Under ultraviolet light, though, the white sheet reveals Ai’s autograph signed in special ink. The activist purposefully chose December 10 as the date to stage this giveaway to mark Human Rights Day.
Signed blank A4 paper with an invisible image in UV ink.
— 艾未未 Ai Weiwei (@aiww) December 13, 2022
This signed edition is especially made for the online sale on https://t.co/z7eE9bVnxy, available to purchase for €100 from 10 to 20 December 2022. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to @Refugeesintl pic.twitter.com/fyBJj9XYt9
Why use a blank piece of paper to send the message? Well, it appears the artist took inspiration from the recent protests in China, where residents held up pieces of blank A4 paper in retaliation to the government’s stringent pandemic protocols.
According to Artnet News, fans who missed out on the free launch can still purchase the work on Maybe.Art for £100 (US$123), with 100% of the proceeds from the sale going to the independent organization Refugees International.
Initially, event organizers had only planned to give away 150 copies of the work, but due to an overwhelming response from the public, they ended up handing out an estimated 450 pieces of the A4 artwork.
Take a look at Ai’s behind-the-scenes making video of A4 below.
10 December 2022 is Human Rights Day. I will be signing blank A4 sheets of paper with invisible UV ink from 2-4pm at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London.#Ai4paper #A4paper #Aiweiwei #aiww #Refugeesinternational #freedomofspeech #humanrights #chinaprotest #covidprotest pic.twitter.com/oz99Z5e3TQ
— 艾未未 Ai Weiwei (@aiww) December 4, 2022
[via Artnet News and Ai Weiwei, cover image via Denis Makarenko | Dreamstime.com]
