HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US

January 24, 2017 11:59 AM

The most electrifying new exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens isn’t inside the museum; it’s a black orb attached to an outside wall. Above it is the name of the newest LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner art project, “HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US.” That orb is a camera connected to a 24/7 livestream, an invitation for anyone anywhere to bear witness.

The directions are simple enough: “The public is invited to deliver the words “HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US” into a camera … repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.” And that’s what people do: A group of teens locks arms and jumps up and down yelling it, a singer passionately riffs in a solo with her back turned to it, it’s whispered in a low chant.

Expanding on the theme of voyeurism central to previous LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner projects such as “#ALLMYMOVIES” and “#ANDINTHEEND,” the museum’s exhibition is a participatory performance piece that will be live-streamed continuously for four years or for the duration of the presidency, whichever comes first.

posted by hippybear (40 comments total)

Adobe Flash *will* divide us, though.
posted by riverrun at 12:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

There are so many reasons to work and pray and wish for a rapid end to the Trump presidency (preferably via impeachment, but, eh). And yet, "It will end a Shia LaBeouf art project" still somehow hurtles up to my top five.
posted by Etrigan at 12:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

I've been dipping in and out of this stream for something like 24 hours, and every time I go back after a break there is a new sort of humanity happening in front of the camera. I think it's pretty fascinating, really. Not something to watch non-stop (in my opinion), but certainly something worth revisiting regularly.
posted by hippybear at 12:10 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Austin Walker dropped in on this in the most Austin Walker way possible.

Bonus: he didn't realize Jaden Smith was standing next to him.
posted by selfnoise at 12:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Also I really want someone to go down there with a boombox and karoake this song.
posted by selfnoise at 12:22 PM on January 24, 2017

I kind of appreciate and enjoy Shia's art projects.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:22 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

No opinion on Shia LaBeouf, but the Museum of the Moving Image is cool.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think I'm a fan of Mr LaBeouf and this.
posted by dominik at 12:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I saw another event on tumblr - one or two people were out there for hours, so someone ordered them a pizza and eventually some locals turned off their livestream and showed up to support them.
posted by dinty_moore at 12:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I kind of appreciate and enjoy Shia's art projects.

Yeah, I don't like his acting at all, or at least I don't like any of the movies I've seen him in. But this art installation is a pretty ok idea.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think for people to give more than a tepid golf clap to Shia LaBeouf he'd have to, like, shit a cure for cancer or something. Is it because of Transformers, or Indy 4, or....?

I wholeheartedly approve of Shia LaBeouf.
posted by Huck500 at 1:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Flash? Gawd. You'd think there weren't about a hundred ways to do what flash does with the persistence with which it keeps showing up. Though there is something funny about a police state tool being used to discuss police state tools.

Seriously, artists, you need a wire-biter on retainer, I'm available these days. My rates are H1B / government-mandate salary levels. If I like your project, we can even discuss a lower one.
posted by Strange_Robinson at 1:13 PM on January 24, 2017

No flash when I hit the page. Only sweet, good ol' HTML5 video.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 1:21 PM on January 24, 2017

Too late Shia - you were all already divided.
posted by GuyZero at 1:25 PM on January 24, 2017

Though there is something funny about a police state tool being used to discuss police state tools.

1. It's not Flash
2. Flash is a "police state tool"...?
posted by danny the boy at 1:31 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

You know what? I forgive Shia's plagiarism. He might not ever be allowed to get a PhD, but he's OK in my book. I look forward to many more acts of performance art.
posted by Yowser at 1:43 PM on January 24, 2017

The underlying project doesn't motivate me but whatever, provoking a reaction makes this Art, and I like it 'cause it's so Gibsonian, 24-7 live feeds of faraway public spaces. Is that cop car always in the background?
posted by Rash at 1:54 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Flash is notoriously leaky with private info. Thankfully, it was always so flakey it thrashed my processor, and I learned to despise it well before all the various ways it exposes your computer to malicious actors became widely known. Just try to purge their version of 'cookies' if you'd like a self directed exploration of the subject.
posted by Strange_Robinson at 2:40 PM on January 24, 2017

Good project. I like that a lot of Shia's work involves interacting with and making himself vulnerable to strangers. It's usually the opposite of a "gotcha cam" vibe.
posted by Emily's Fist at 2:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

He's making some art
Shia LaBeouf

Protesting Trump
Shia LaBeouf

Installing a Camera
Shia LaBeouf

Taking a Stand
HOLYWOOD SUPERSTAR SHIA LABEOUF
posted by schmod at 3:54 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Site works with HTML5 video for me. No Flash necessary.
posted by ardgedee at 6:01 AM on January 25, 2017

Must be dark; I cannot see a thing.
posted by RobHoi at 6:23 AM on January 25, 2017

It's so interesting to see the social dynamics between transitions from one chant to the other.

I just noticed the time of the last post on this thread and I mean, it's still going...
posted by malapropist at 1:47 PM on January 25, 2017

Of course, since it's 2017, some white nationalists showed to get their chance to say coded racist messages. Shia went full LaBeouf on them, and it's like the first time I've ever thought "Huh, I think I understand Shia a little bit". (23skidoo)

The fact that white nationalists showed up to an anti-Trump-Administration art exhibit to scream, speaks volumes about the current political climate.

http://www.businessinsider.com/shia-labeouf-shouting-match-white-nationalist-anti-trump-protest-2017-1

posted by Captain Idealist at 3:37 PM on January 25, 2017

I tuned in and everyone was singing All Star.
posted by davejh at 3:51 PM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

And Shia is arrested -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4158972/Shia-LaBeouf-ARRESTED-live-camera.html
posted by chmmr at 1:44 AM on January 26, 2017

(For getting into a fight with a fellow protester, not for the art installation itself.)
posted by tobascodagama at 5:43 AM on January 26, 2017

Guardian: More Nazi-punching caught on video.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:34 AM on January 26, 2017

I wholeheartedly approve of Shia LaBeouf.

Damn, if he's punching people I take it back. I think he's on there kissing a guy without permission, too. Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Huck500 at 10:39 AM on January 26, 2017

I think LeBeouf's actual presence in front of the camera is much less interesting than the whole livestream art project as a whole. I've seen so much humanity in this feed in the past couple of days that it gives me a fractalized hope in general (without much specific hope, unfortunately).
posted by hippybear at 10:48 AM on January 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Damn, if he's punching people I take it back. I think he's on there kissing a guy without permission, too. Christ, what an asshole.

In the video I saw, he didn't punch anybody. Somebody approached him for a video selfie, then said "Hitler did nothing wrong!" with Shia in frame, at which point Shia pushed him away. There was some force used, but it's definitely not a bunch.

(Kid deserved a punch anyway for parroting Nazi bullshit, IMO, but that's a different thread.)
posted by tobascodagama at 12:09 PM on January 26, 2017

Jeebus, beardy-face black New York cap guy has been there for something like 12 hours now. I check back in, he's still there, several hours later, still there...
posted by hippybear at 12:23 PM on January 26, 2017

I'm fine with him punching as many nazis as he wants
posted by poffin boffin at 6:53 PM on January 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

If you told me that the outcome of the 2016 elections would have me rooting for Teen Vogue and Shia LaBeouf....
posted by schmod at 7:08 PM on January 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Looked at the stream briefly just now to see what laughs were to be had and there's a black guy singing about peace, love, unity, something like "Trump you're gonna do great things for America, I know you have a good heart, we grew up in New York together..."

Looked at the hashtag on Twitter and saw what appears to be some NoC, "Nazis" of Color.

So maybe people are being brought together...
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 3:01 PM on January 27, 2017

I peeked in for literally 10 seconds and a guy walked up to the camera and talked about how he feels it's awful that Christian refugees would be given priority, and then he said "he will not divide us" and walked away.

I literally look at this about 10 times a day. Right now, it feels like some kind of prism that works as a balm that turns down the screaming in my head by a small amount.
posted by hippybear at 4:35 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

The museum apparently shut it down.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:38 PM on February 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sean O'Neal at The Onion A.V. Club: "Milk-Chugging Alt-Right Trolls Shut Down Shia LaBeouf's Art Project"
posted by Going To Maine at 1:08 PM on February 13, 2017

Season 2 is supposed to start dividing Albuquerque today...
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 6:20 AM on February 18, 2017

Yup, relocated to Albuquerque.
posted by hippybear at 12:57 PM on February 19, 2017