Update – 26/01/17 Shia LaBeouf has been arrested at his anti-Trump art installation in New York. The Actor was taken away by police following an altercation at the site of his He Will Not Divide Us work, which is set to run for Trump’s first term The actor, 30, was handcuffed by police on Wednesday evening, reportedly after a disagreement which involved LaBeouf assaulting a man with divergent political opinions.
The circumstances are not clear. On a fan, Twitter feed for #HeWillNotDivideUs, the name of LaBeouf’s art installation protest, where the arrest took place, a 13-second video shows the actor briefly shoving a man who addresses the camera with the words “Hitler did nothing wrong”.
“Hey,” says the man. “Why did he attack me?” Later tweets from the same account expand the report by saying: “Shia was attacked by a Nazi. Shia got arrested. Nazi got away.” This echoes a later video of fellow protesters who say: “Shia took a hit for us. There were all these Nazis here, he came out and tried to protect us.” It is claimed that LaBeouf scratched the man and grabbed his scarf.
NYPD have been posted at the site since Monday. “He will not divide us” was co-created by LaBeouf, along with Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner, and aims to run for the next four years – or as long as Trump is in office. It involves a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York. Passers-by are invited to stand for as long as they wish in front of it repeating the phrase. The results are live-streamed. On Sunday LaBeouf shouted down another protester by repeatedly yelling “He will not divide us” into his face.
Beginning on the morning of Trump’s inauguration at 9 am on January 20, 2017, Shia LaBeouf commenced his most ambitious performance piece. Titled, “HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US.” This artwork consists of a live broadcast where the public is invited to deliver words into a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, repeating the title phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.
Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously 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.
Shia LaBeouf is staging a four-year, crowd-sourced protest against the presidency of Donald Trump
Jaden Smith was the first participant. Smith and a friend in HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US (2017). HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US, Shia LaBeouf is staging a four-year, crowd-sourced protest against the presidency of Donald Trump. Anyone who wants to take part can join by saying the words “He will not divide us” into a camera installed next to the Museum of Moving Image in New York, and live streaming on the internet 24 hours a day. Those who wish to take part can stay in front of the camera for as long as they like, and repeat the phrase. The words “he will not divide us” are meant to become a kind of mantra intended to sink into the subconscious providing solidarity and optimism.
LaBeouf and his collaborators Nastja Säde Rönkkö, and Luke Turner have created this piece which is one of the longest duration pieces ever conceived. NOW LIVE http://WWW.HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US