“Forever Bicycles” is a stunning installation created by Chinese artist/activist Aiweiwei, as a part of 21 works shaped from 1983 till present, for the ‘Aiweiwei Absent’ exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. This visual effect serves as a token to China’s most common form of transportation and consists of 1000 bicycles positioned in a 10m high space, giving the illusion of a constantly moving form. The artist, famous for his Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing, named the exhibition ‘absent’, as he was unable to attend due to a 4 month political detention on charges on economic crimes.
Aiming to symbolize the constantly changing social environment of China, he managed to give to these most functional objects an abstract quality through their sheer quantity and position. When viewed from different angles, it looks as if it the bikes have been manipulated so that their primary function has been removed and freedom associated with cycling has been lost. The bicycles have no handlebars or seats and instead these parts have been used as connections to other wheels, to spread upward and outward and create this magical labyrinth-like visual effect in a three dimensional area.
