Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s latest work targets ‘shameful’ response to refugee crisis

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei on Thursday slammed “shameful” politicians who ignore refugees as he launched a giant art installation centred on their fate at the National Gallery in Prague.

Called Law of the Journey, the show features a stylised 70-metre-long inflatable boat carrying 258 oversize refugee figures.

A tribute to the thousands who have drowned crossing the Mediterranean, the piece is Ai’s biggest-ever installation. It will be on display until the end of the year.

“My message is very clear: being a politician or a political group, you cannot be so short-sighted, you cannot have no vision, you cannot sacrifice human dignity and human rights for political gain,” Ai said.

“I think this is very, very shameful behaviour,” he added.

The Czech Republic and the other post-Communist central European members have rejected EU plans to allow Muslim refugees on their territories throughout the migrant crisis.