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When HORNBACH invited me to collaborate on this project, I immediately thought it was a fantastic idea. HORNBACH is a company that has a connection with people’s everyday lives. Their products address the practical aspects of life, as well as the decorative and pleasurable.
Art belongs to everybody. Everybody can be an artist or has the opportunity or ability to make art. And while art may not necessarily make the world a better place, it has the power to make us better people.
Ai Weiwei
(born on 28 August 1957 in Beijing) is an artist, carpenter and curator.
I made a similar piece in the late 1980s called “Five Raincoats Holding Up a Star”. This piece is based on the same idea, but we have refreshed it.
“Safety Jackets Zipped the Other Way” is a work dealing with the old concept of the readymade. The piece is made from materials found in typical DIY stores, or that might be used by construction workers. Simply zipping the jackets together with other jackets without really doing anything else destroys the original meaning of these very well-designed objects and transforms them into something else.
“Five Raincoats Holding Up a Star”, from the late 1980s.
The work consists of a set of high-visibility safety jackets zipped together to form a connected, non-functional soft sculpture that can be made in different variations. You can combine two jackets for a simple one, or as many jackets as you want. The language is the same.
I am an artist who cares about reality and what is happening today. I try to relate my works to everyday life, to ordinary things, to the familiar. At the same time, I add some twists to make us question our rationality.
I made this work for the public, for the people who are not necessarily art collectors or museum-goers. For those who have a sense of humour and understand that meaning can be created by anybody at any moment.
Video, 16:9
3:31 mins
5×
(domestic shipping only)
3×
(domestic shipping only)
6×
The correct choice of plugs and screws will depend on your wall.
4×
(domestic shipping only)
2×
(domestic shipping only)
4×
The correct choice of plugs and screws will depend on your wall.
7×
(domestic shipping only)
5×
(domestic shipping only)
10×
The correct choice of plugs and screws will depend on your wall.
6×
(domestic shipping only)
4×
(domestic shipping only)
12×
(domestic shipping only)
Ai Weiwei
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