Ai Weiwei Brought a Refugee Camp to Soho
On November 5, Ai Weiwei’s “Laundromat” opens at Jeffrey Deitch’s Wooster Street space — an installation of 2,046 items the artist (and outspoken Chinese dissident) collected on a visit to an abandoned refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border. When the migrants left the camp in a rush, boots and pants and sneakers and sweaters were left behind. Ai gathered them together, washed them, ironed and folded and organized them, then had them shipped to New York, where they make up just one of four shows he’s opening simultaneously less than a week before election day.
*A version of this article appears in the November 14, 2016, issue of New York Magazine.
Discarded shoes left behind by migrants.
Racks of sweaters and shirts.
An overview of the room, which included more than 20 racks of washed and pressed clothing.
Pants and shirts.
Every article of clothing was tagged and numbered by Ai's studio.
A rack of children's shoes and sweaters.
Children's shirts and coats.
The jeans were meticulously folded and hung together.
A rack of baby clothes.