Workers attach life jackets used and discarded by refugees and migrants to the facade of the Konzerthaus concert hall in Berlin as part of an art installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.(Photo: Michael Kappeler, EPA)
(NEWSER)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>– Some 14,000 life jackets discarded by refugees entering Europe via the Greek island of Lesbos now adorn the six pillars of Berlin's landmark Konzerthaus concert hall. It's the work of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Quartz<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reports, who has been a vocal critic of Europe's handling of the refugee crisis.
Since January, more that 84,000 migrants have arrived in Europe, according to the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
International Organization for Migration. Of those, at least 410 have drowned or are missing. More than 1 million migrants made the journey to Europe in 2015, with the vast majority of them coming by sea. More than 3,700 people died crossing the Mediterranean last year, per Quartz.
Officials in Lesbos say they gave the life jackets to Ai,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
CNN<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reports. The artist has spent a lot of time on the island in the last year — even setting up a studio there — documenting the dangerous journey refugees make as they flee conflict and poverty. “As an artist, I have to relate to humanity’s struggles," he tells the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
AP<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in an earlier interview. "I never separate these situations from my art."
Recently, Ai recreated the photo of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Syrian toddler who drowned<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and washed ashore on a Turkish beach in September during his family's failed attempt to reach Greece, the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Guardian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>adds. "It's an idea that came quite spontaneously," he tells CNN. "We had talked about the image of the boy, so I had that on my mind." (The artist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
is also partial to Legos.)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
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