Ai Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles art installation returning to The Forks

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Peggy

Manitobans will have another chance to view an art installation made of more than a thousand bicycles by world-renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei starting next week.

The installation Forever Bicycles was created by Ai in 2013 and has been loaned to countries across the world.

That includes a three-year-loan of an edition of the installation at The Forks in Winnipeg, from 2019 to 2022.

The return of the sculpture, which features 1,254 bicycles, has not been officially announced, but a Forks spokesperson confirmed Tuesday it is returning under a new loan and will be unveiled to the public on Oct. 29.

A group of builders use a crane to assemble an art installation outside on a rainy day. — Builders work to assemble Forever Bicycles, an art installation made of 1,254 metal bicycles, at The Forks on Tuesday. (Maggie Wilcox/Radio-Canada)

Workers could be seen assembling the piece at the national historic site on Tuesday afternoon, in a location where the sculpture will overlook the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, just as it did when it was first installed in the city.

Ai is well known for his human rights-related activism and challenging authoritarianism in his art.

Forever Bicycles is a tribute to the role bicycles play in China, where they are a common mode of transportation but remained financially out of reach for many, including Ai’s family when he was young.

After its loan to The Forks ended in 2022, a smaller version of the sculpture was displayed at the University of Manitoba.