Shia LaBeouf‘s ill-fated art installation project He Will Not Divide Us has been shut down yet again, after gunshots were heard near its current location in New Mexico.
The artwork, a live video stream intended to run 24/7 for the duration of Donald Trump‘s presidency, was originally installed outside a museum in Queens, but was forced to wrap up on February 10 after it became a “flashpoint for violence.”
Shia and his fellow artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner relocated the controversial project to the historic El Rey Theatre in Albuquerque, but it wasn’t long before they ran into trouble again.
Earlier this week, the exhibit was vandalised with red spray paint, and the camera was covered up for several hours before somebody got around to scraping it off.
The subsequent shooting incident occurred at approximately 2:51am on Thursday, with Albuquerque police confirming that gunfire was heart at a location approximately one block from the theatre.
Apparently, this was enough for Shia to pull the plug. “We have taken the stream down after shots were reported in the area,” the actor said in a statement on social media. “The safety of everybody participating in our project is paramount.”
As of right now, the live stream on the art project’s website remains dark.
When explaining the decision to shut down the artwork at its earlier location in Queens, a representative of the Museum of the Moving Image said:
“The installation created a serious and ongoing public safety hazard for the museum, its visitors, its staff, local residents and businesses. While the installation began constructively, it deteriorated markedly after one of the artists was arrested at the site of the installation and ultimately necessitated this action.”
Photo: New York Daily News / Getty.
