LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner’s controversial live art installation, HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, has reopened again in an “unknown location”.
The New York project, set up on the day of Trump’s inauguration, encouraged members of the public to chant “he will not divide us” while staring into a live-stream webcam. While initially unifying, it quickly began attracting the wrong kind of crowd – with people intermittently turning up to disrupt the piece. This included white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and a steady stream of 4chan trolls (the drama reached its peak when Labeouf ended up being arrested following an altercation with a Hitler apologist).
LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner were eventually forced to move the installation, originally outside the Museum of Moving Image, after the venue raised concerns that it was creating a “serious and ongoing public safety hazard”. It re-opened eight days later, outside the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before being shut down again after “shots were fired in the area.”
Now, weeks later, the installation has returned – only this time, members of the public are no longer able to interact with it. Instead, the stream just shows a flag with the words “He Will Not Divide Us”, flying over an “unknown location.”
“On March 8, 2017, the project moved to an unknown location,” read a statement on the official HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US site. “A flag emblazoned with the words ‘HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US’ will be flown for the duration.”
Watch the stream here, or read our review of the project here.
