Two of the most influential artists in the world are using their celebrity status to draw attention to the European refugee crisis.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and British artist Anish Kapoor organized a 7-mile march from central London to Stratford Thursday.
This is a peaceful walk through the city, and the whole act is meant to raise awareness and “pay creative attention” to the refugee crisis, Ai told CNN.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week that Britain would take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years, but Kapoor has asked for more.
“We ask for a human response, not one that’s simply taking account of immigration questions, this is not a question of immigration, this is a question of our beings in a way, and recognizing their humanity,” Kapoor told CNN. “There is something deeply creative about that courage, what does it take to up your family, get on a boat, face the danger, walk hundreds of miles across Europe. … Those are creative, courageous people — recognize their humanity.”
Taking to Instagram, the artists urged people to join Thursday’s march, and to bring a blanket as a gesture of support. Hundreds answered the call. But at times, the media and photographers crowded out the people who had come to take part.
Kapoor said theirs was a simple act, a walk to raise awareness.
“We’re exploring, and a walk in that sense is an exploration of the possibility of action from some simple gestures,” he said.
Ai is in London for the launch of a major exhibition of his work at the Royal Academy of Art. His art is often deeply critical of the Chinese government. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Ai used thousands of children’s backpacks to spell out the phrase: “She lived happily for seven years in this world.” It was a criticism of the poor construction of schools that crumbled during the earthquake, killing more than 5,000 students.
A well-known dissident in his home country, Ai has only recently been able to travel. Chinese authorities confiscated his passport more than four years ago. He was just issued a new one in July.
And yet he is wading into the refugee crisis because he says artists should get involved.
Art “is about aesthetics, about morals, about our beliefs in humanity. Without that there is simply no art,” said Ai.
Kapoor is best-known for Cloud Gate, a public sculpture in Chicago. His latest sculpture at Versailles has been vandalized several times in the last few weeks. For him, there is a parallel between the anti-Semitic graffiti plastered over his art, and the lack of compassion for refugees.
“Clearly there is an underbelly in Europe, all over Europe, of a kind of terrible nastiness, anti-Semitic, anti-other, anti all those who are foreign, different,” said Kapoor.
Ai and Kapoor want to fight those views with more images of support for refugees. They plan to repeat their march in other international cities over the next few months.