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Artwork by Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei is a striking reminder of the migrant crisis taking place on Europes shores.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark In the sun-soaked setting of Copenhagens Nyhavn harbor, there is a striking reminder of the migrant crisis taking place on Europes shores.

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has barricaded the windows of the Kunsthal Charlottenborg museum with more than 3,500 salvaged life jackets worn by migrants and collected on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The artwork is named Soleil Levant French for Sunrise and was inaugurated Tuesday, which was World Refugee Day.

Obviously, Ai Weiwei wants to put attention to the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, or as he calls it, the human crisis, says Kunsthal Charlottenborg director Michael Thouber. The beautiful thing about this piece is that every one of these life jackets, 3,500 life jackets, represents a human story.

The title is a reference to French painter Claude Monets painting Impression, Soleil Levant from 1872, which depicted Le Havre harbor and captured the political and social reality of the time.

Ai previously used 14,000 discarded life vests collected from the beaches of Lesbos to wrap the columns of Berlins Konzerthaus, and they were used to create lotus blossoms floating in a pond in Viennas Belvedere Park. The latter is thework that made Thouber contact Ai and ask him to do something similar in Copenhagen.

It was absolutely heartbreaking and breathtaking, he says.

Last year, Ai withdrew his works from two Danish museums to protest a new law that allowed the countrys authorities to seize valuables from migrants.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg says the artwork will remain on its facade until Oct. 1.

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Migrant life jackets turned into artwork in Copenhagen - The Seattle Times