Last month, a group of activist artists disguised as construction workers entered Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn before dawn to install a statue of Edward Snowden which was removed by police. The police action came only after numerous passersby took notice of the professional-quality statue, which the artists hoped would be a permanent addition to the park, paired with the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, dedicated to POWs of the American Revolution. Instead, by midday on April 6, the statue was confiscated.
That night, an unrelated collective of artists known as The Illuminator used a laptop, a projector, and a smoke machine to display a hologram of the NSA whistleblower. The statue, on the other hand, remained in NYPD custody and it was unknown whether the artists would face criminal charges.
A projection of Edward Snowden graced the space which hosted a bust of the activist earlier on April 6 (The Illuminator.)
On Thursday, volunteers moved the 100-pound bust from the NYPD’s property facility in Queens back into the artists’ possession. The previously anonymous activists, identified as Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider, are still hoping to find a permanent home for the statue in a public park not that it has been released. In the meantime, however, Greenspan and Tider do have short-term plans for their work.
A pair of activist volunteers bring the 100-pound bust of Edward Snowden back to its creators from NYPD custody (Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates.)
On May 8 the statue will be placed in the Boiler Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a part of the gallery’s exhibition on the subject of surveillance. The Brooklyn Paper reported that Joe Amhrein, the gallery’s owner, had already chosen the theme of surveillance prior to the statue’s release, and when his peers heard news of the bust’s recovery its inclusion was simply fitting.
“Snowden is a very interesting character, so when we saw these artists putting the bust in public and creating a dialogue, we thought being able to put it back in a public venue would be great,” said Amhrein, who is presenting the bust with a collection of other artworks dealing with surveillance and privacy in an exhibit titled, “Anonymity, no longer an option.”
“-r-xr-xr-x”, an installation by Addie Wagenknecht shares the stage with the Snowden statue at a public exhibition. The statue’s artists are still hopeful that it will find a permanent place in one of New York’s public parks (John Berens.)
The artists were also met with leniency, having been given no criminal sentence and instead having been given only a $50 fine each, the standard for being in a city park before dawn. The artists were impressed with the city’s handling of the situation.
“We are thrilled the statue has been released for public viewing. It belongs in public, since the aim of this piece is to help the public have an important national debate about mass surveillance. The NYPD was gracious today in their handling of the situation. Some officers even expressed their approval of and appreciation for the art. It is exciting to be reminded that NYC is still a place where complex issues and challenging ideas can be examined by all in a public setting,” Greenspan and Tider said in a statement to Animal.
They are hopeful that their work will find its way back into the public arena through the city’s Art in the Parks program.
Greenspan and Tider have made their work publicly available, providing the plans to recreate the controversial bust(Creative Commons.)
Keeping with their commitment to art as an agent for public discussion, the activist artists behind the piece have made their work available for free use through a Creative Commons license, as well as providing the template to 3D print an 8-inch version of it.
The statue is on exhibition at The Boiler through May 17.