Caroline Elbaor
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Shia LaBeouf has been invited to participate in Houston’s Experimental Action, a three-day international performance art festival, via an open letter from its organizers. Under the title #ShiaShowUp, the campaign hopes to pique LaBeouf’s interest and ultimately bring one of his performances to the Texan city’s festival, slated to take place from February 23 to 25, 2017.
“The interaction between celebrity and art has always been fascinating to me, so this conceptual marketing campaign is a sincere effort to bring Shia LaBeouf to Houston,” said Julia Claire Wallace, co-founder/director of Experimental Action, in an interview with the magazine Houstonia.
“We really respect Shia and his collaborative performance art work with Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner. #ShiaShowUp is a collaborative performance art piece in and of itself, inspired by their work,” she said.
Local artists in the Houston area have also contributed to what has become a viral request for the actor and aspiring artist’s presence. Yet, despite the social media frenzy, opponents have raised concern about LaBeouf’s potential inclusion.
At a Houston City Council meeting on January 10, Houston resident Jeremiah Carroll appealed to Mayor Turner, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, our great city is at a crossroads. It has come to my attention that there’s a group of ne’er-do-wells, counterculture anarchists and miscreants who have decided to create a social media campaign to invite a criminal to our great city.”
Carroll proceeds to hilariously mispronounce LaBeouf’s name as something like “Shy-ala Beowulf,” recite a criminal history, and call him an “out-of-control” “menace.” Despite Ballard’s opposition, the City Council has made no movements towards barring LaBeouf from Houston.
The notoriously misbehaved LaBeouf was arrested yesterday in relation to his anti-Trump livestreamed art project, HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US, after he pushed a man who posed for a selfie with the actor and then said, “Hitler did nothing wrong.” LaBeouf has been charged with misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation.
At the current moment, LaBeouf’s camp has yet to respond to Experimental Action’s request. Not to worry: the open letter also included fellow actor-cum-artist James Franco, saying, “P.S. James Franco, if you happen to read this, just know that we could be persuaded to feature your performance art work as well.”
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