Ai Weiwei’s 3,144-bike installation will change how you look at bicycles

Ai Weiwei, the dissident Chinese artist who is the only contemporary Chinese artist that most people in the West know of, has a thing for bicycles. He’s been going around the world creating versions of Forever Bicycles — an installation that uses lots and lots and lots of bicycles to make you feel like you’re time-traveling in bicycle space. Or like you’re tripping. (Bike tripping?) Here’s what it looks like:

The newest installation is in Toronto, outside, and uses the most bicycles — 3,144 — of any of the previous installations. That’s a lot of bikes. So many bikes they no longer look like bikes. And after all, what is a bike? Our minds are kind of blown over here.