The Museum of the Moving Image has shut down the “He will not divide us” livestream, created by actor Shia LaBeouf and artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner, citing public safety concerns.
“The installation had become a flashpoint for violence and was disrupted from its original intent,” the Queens museum said in a statement on Friday.
The 24-hour-a-day livestream launched on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Jan. 20, 2017, and was intended to last for Trump’s entire term. People were encouraged to appear before the camera, mounted to an outside wall of the museum, and say, “he will not divide us.”
But it quickly led to threats and fights, the museum said.
“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,” the museum’s statement said.
LaBeouf was arrested at the site days after it launched after allegedly getting into a dispute with another man.
LaBeouf, Rönkkö and Turner posted a brief remark about the museum’s decision on the project website.
“On February 10, 2017, the Museum of the Moving Image abandoned the project,” they wrote. “The artists, however, have not.”
It’s not immediately clear if the installation will be moved to a new location.
