Ai Weiwei returns to New York with monumental public installation on Roosevelt Island

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei will unveil a monumental public art installation titled Camouflage on Roosevelt Island, New York, opening September 10, 2025. The work, commissioned by the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy, marks his first major public project in the city since 2017. Camouflage includes an open sanctuary and a structure covered in camouflage netting, prompting reflection on vulnerability, protection, truth, concealment, and the reverberating effects of violent human conflicts. The installation launches Art X Freedom, a new public art and civic engagement program with an annual budget of $250,000 for artworks and a $25,000 prize per artist. Ai Weiwei described the piece as a personal commentary on current political and cultural developments. The program is seen as a counterpoint to the Trump administration's National Garden of American Heroes, a planned 250-statue park funded by grants revoked from artists chosen under the previous administration. The installation will be on view until December 1, 2025. Ai Weiwei, who now lives and works in Portugal, last installed works in New York in 2017, protesting Trump's immigration policies.