Gustavo TurnerThis weekend, Pink Floyd's former frontman Roger Waters is issuing a kind of pacifist call to arms in the spirit of Banksy (or is it in the spirit of Mr. Brainwash?) by projecting humongous quotes from Republican president Dwight Eisenhower in different locations in Los Angeles and New York.
The public art stunt was initially teased anonymously as a blind-item, but the giveaway was the The Wall-ish script (which is in turn a kind of simplified riff on the famous Ralph Steadman calligraphy–that is, two degrees of separation from actual rebellion).
It's unclear whether Waters is promoting anything other than peace and the sayings of dead Republican presidents who are best remembered for shepherding a questionably Golden Age of American values in the 50s and for playing a lot of golf (yes, we know, WWII, but still.).
More similar stunts are announced for these locations:
Los Angeles – projection and wheat pastings
Friday, April 30 – 9pm-2am PST
9957 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Saturday, May 1 – 9pm-2am PST
912 S. Broadway
Here's the official explanation from Waters' press people:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
The quote above, from Dwight D. Eisenhower, and now adopted by Roger Waters to embody the spirit of Pink Floyd's famous album The Wall will appear this weekend across various locations in New York and Los Angeles as vivid graphic projections, wheat pastings and chalk drawings. We invite you to check out the locations below and spread the word of Roger's message. This is a call to arms to a new generation of fans, to not sit idly by and believe what is being told to them, but to constantly question, and find the answers they seek by breaking down walls.
This quote below, taken from a recent interview with famed British journalist David Frost, explains the message behind Water's selection of the Eisenhower quote:
“I was reading an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by Bob Herbert and came across this quote. It made me think, we need to hang onto words of these wise people from our past. I'm far more focused on trying to sort out where the walls that we face now lie. Whether there are media walls, there are certainly economic walls, and there are walls that are more subtle and insidious than the war between North and South, the war between rich and poor. We are the first generation to have had a real chance to get to some of the truth at what's going on and in consequence possibly be able to sort out what to do about it and for successive generations to have a better chance than we to sort out the truth from the lies, the wheat from the chaff.”
More photos from last night in LA:
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.