HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US will not, in fact, be divided much longer. Shia LaBeouf’s anti–Donald Trump half-livestream, half-performance-art-project will permanently move to the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a week after it was shut down over public-safety concerns at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. (It culminated in LaBeouf getting arrested for allegedly assaulting someone at the exhibition site.) LaBeouf and his collaborators, Rönkkö & Turner, announced the cross-country move on their website, using the majority of their statement to harshly criticize the original museum for abandoning their project. “Their evident lack of commitment to the project is damning,†the statement reads. “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 judgement.â€
LaBeouf claims that all of his attempts to curb hate speech and violence at the exhibit were neither acknowledged nor acted upon by the museum in any way. “It is our understanding that the museum bowed to political pressure in ceasing their involvement with our project,†the statement continues. “It is clear, therefore, that the Museum of the Moving Image is not fit to speak of our intent as artists.†HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US launched on Inauguration Day, and, if LaBeouf gets his way, will continue for the next four years in Albuquerque undisturbed. It’s open to anyone to visit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.