Shia LaBeouf’s ‘He Will Not Divide Us’ Installation Gets Shut Down

The Museum of the Moving Image has decided to close the  LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner‘s “He Will Not Divide Us” collaboration, in response to the presidential election of Donald Trump, a man unqualified to run a country, let alone his businesses. In a statement Friday, the Museum claimed the  HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US installation had become an “ongoing public safety hazard” for staff, visitors, residents, and nearby businesses.

Although the majority of the participatory installation started with and continued to include peaceful interpretations of the “He will not divide us” mantra, the non-violent protest was reportedly interrupted multiple times by Trump supporters and those attempting to spew known white supremacist terminology during the livestream.

The Original Project Description reads as follows.

“HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US is a participatory performance by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner that invites the public to deliver the words “He will not divide us” into a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish. The performance commences at 9:00 a.m. on January 20, 2017, the day of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States.

Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously at www.hewillnotdivide.us for four years, or the duration of the presidency. In this way, the mantra “HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US” acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community”

The Museum has issued the following statement on the cancellation of the project.

 

“The installation had become a flashpoint for violence and was disrupted from its original intent,” the Museum said in its statement released today on February 10th. “While the installation began constructively, it deteriorated markedly after one of the artists was arrested on the site of the installation and ultimately necessitated this action. Over the course of the installation, there have been dozens of threats of violence and numerous arrests, such that police felt compelled to be stationed outside the installation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

 

 

There is no word yet on what will replace the project, if anything at all, but we shall see if people are really as open and honest as they like to claim in terms of this presidential election.