In order to address the problem of over consumption, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei created a giant bicycle installation made of 760 individual bikes. The artist chose bicycles as a symbol of mass production – quite understandably, as they are the most popular means of transportation among the workers of China. Besides representing over consumption, the chain and sprocket mechanism of the bicycles also symbolizes the matrix of the main power of the country: its labor force, its people. The installation is currently being exhibited in San Gimignano’s Galleria Continua, Italy, through February 16.
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