The artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been announced as the inaugural artist for Art X Freedom, a new public art commisisoning program launched by the Four Freedoms Park Conservatory.
Ai will create a monumental new public art installation in direct dialogue with the design and location of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park, located on Roosevelt Island in New York, NY. On view from September 10 to December 1, 2025, Camouflage will comprise a monumental open sanctuary and structure draped in a camouflage netting, inviting the public to consider questions of vulnerability and protection, truth and concealment, and the reverberating impacts of violent human conflicts around the world. Visitors will be invited to participate and contribute to the work by writing reflections on freedom on ribbons and attaching them to the netting, transforming the installation into a collective act of reflection and reckoning.
FDR Four Freedoms State Park commemorates the president Franklin D. Roosevelt and the fundamental human freedoms he championed: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Art X Freedom will invite artists to create temporary public art installations that interrogate issues of social justice and freedom, extending FDR's legacy and transforming the memorial and park into a dynamic, forward-looking catalyst for artistic expression, community building, and social change.
Learn more at fdrfourfreedomspark.org
