This fall, Ai Weiwei returns to New York with a monumental installation that redefines public art and freedom at Four Freedoms Park.
This September, Roosevelt Island’s Four Freedoms Park will host Ai Weiwei‘s latest work, a large-scale installation titled Camouflage. The piece marks the launch of Art X Freedom, a new public art initiative by the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy.
Camouflage features a canopy of netting suspended over the park’s central axis, enveloping the bust of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The installation invites visitors to reflect on themes of visibility and concealment, protection and vulnerability.
Incorporating silhouettes of cats into the camouflage pattern, Weiwei nods to the nearby Wildlife Freedom Foundation, subtly shifting the focus from human-centric narratives to the often-overlooked plight of animals in human-made crises.
Visitors are encouraged to participate by writing personal reflections on ribbons and tying them to the netting, allowing the installation to evolve over time.
Camouflage will be on view from September 10 through December 1, 2025, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the opening of the UN General Assembly’s 80th session.
