“Happy kids are playing the game, but something is off, the chairs have been replaced by life vests and the EU is playing the music.”

Street artist LAPIZ says his darkly themed new stencil piece is based on the game ‘musical chairs’ and is pointing directly to the number of refugees who drown in the Mediterranean Sea. So many die so frequently that people in Europe have grown tired from the news, he says. And that’s why he’s depicted this ‘game’ of children playing with life vests.

“It is supposed to look that way because it became normal that people are drowning in the Mediterranean which is why we do not hear anything about it anymore,” he says.

Part of Urban Nation museum’s UNartig Festival, where artworks are intended to catalyze discussion, the new work is entitled “Reise nach Lesbos” (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos). The reference to Lesbos in this case of course, is to the large number of refugees living there in camps, many of whom would like to move to Europe.

“About 50% of people fleeing via the Mediterranean are underage,” LAPIZ tells us. That fact alone is enough to confirm that this new work is not childs’ play.

Urban Nation Museum in Berlin’s new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins” is open to the public. Click HERE for details and schedules.

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