Shia LaBeouf’s anti-Donald Trump project will move to Liverpool, England.
A flag with the words – ‘HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US’ – will be flown at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in the north England city for the next four years or for the duration of the 45th Presidency of the United States.
In a statement, Shia, Nastja Säd Rönkkö & Luke Turner said: “Events have shown that America is simply not safe enough for this artwork to exist.” Whilst Turner – who grew up in the north of England – added: “We are proud to be continuing the project at FACT, an arts center at the heart of the community.” This comes after Shia was forced to shut down the project after gunshots were reported in the Albuquerque area near the El Rey Theatre, where the project had been installed.
He said in a statement on Twitter at the time: “We have taken the stream down after shots were reported in the area. The safety of everybody participating in our project is paramount.” It was previously moved from the Museum of Moving Image in Queens, New York after concerns of violence were raised at the original site.
We have taken the stream down after shots were reported in the area. The safety of everybody participating in our project is paramount.
— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) February 23, 2017
The trio revealed at the time: “From the outset, the museum failed to address our concerns about the misleading framing of our piece as a political rally, rather than as a participatory performance artwork resisting the normalization of division. In fact, the museum demonstrated a spectacular lack of judgment – and courtesy to us as artists – by neglecting to consult us when they staged a political rally at the site of our artwork on January 29, 2017. On numerous occasions, we voiced serious concerns to the museum about hate speech occurring at the site of our project and requested that the museum acts responsibly in moderating this and providing the public with a means of reporting such incidents. Our requests were not even acknowledged, let alone acted upon.”
Since early March, the flag has been flying at an unknown location in the United States.
