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| Celebrities don emergency blankets at Berlin fundraiser for refugees | Celebrities don emergency blankets at Berlin fundraiser for refugees |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| A film charity event held alongside an installation in Berlin by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has sparked anger. | A film charity event held alongside an installation in Berlin by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has sparked anger. |
| According to Artnet, the Cinema for Peace fundraiser took place at the Berlin Konzerthaus, whose pillars the artist decorated – as part of his installation Safe Passage – with 14,000 lifejackets flown in from Lesbos, Greece, where almost 450,000 refugees arrived in 2015 on their way into the EU. | |
| Fundraiser guests, including actor Charlize Theron and Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova, were encouraged to don emergency thermal blankets similar to those given to refugees. | Fundraiser guests, including actor Charlize Theron and Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova, were encouraged to don emergency thermal blankets similar to those given to refugees. |
| In a Facebook post, Tim Renner, Berlin’s culture secretary, was highly critical of the sight of dinner guests at a star-studded gala posing in the blankets at the party. | In a Facebook post, Tim Renner, Berlin’s culture secretary, was highly critical of the sight of dinner guests at a star-studded gala posing in the blankets at the party. |
| Related: There are better ways for Ai Weiwei to take a political stand than posing as a drowned infant | Related: There are better ways for Ai Weiwei to take a political stand than posing as a drowned infant |
| “When Ai Weiwei illustrates the dimensions of terror outside [the gala] with 14,000 life jackets from Lesbos, it is perhaps not subtle but effective and justified; but when the guests of Cinema for Peace are prompted by the organiser to don emergency blankets for a group photo, even if understood as an act of solidarity, it has a clearly obscene element,” he said. | “When Ai Weiwei illustrates the dimensions of terror outside [the gala] with 14,000 life jackets from Lesbos, it is perhaps not subtle but effective and justified; but when the guests of Cinema for Peace are prompted by the organiser to don emergency blankets for a group photo, even if understood as an act of solidarity, it has a clearly obscene element,” he said. |
| Ai Weiwei, whose recent work has focused on the migration crisis, was criticised two weeks ago for recreating a photo of the drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi – for the magazine India Today – in which the artist lies face down on a beach. He maintained that his work was intended to “defend the dignity” of the refugees. | Ai Weiwei, whose recent work has focused on the migration crisis, was criticised two weeks ago for recreating a photo of the drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi – for the magazine India Today – in which the artist lies face down on a beach. He maintained that his work was intended to “defend the dignity” of the refugees. |