facing the fire
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Facing the Fire (2) is a three sided projection mapping & audio installation in my neighborhood at the ruins of the former 3rd Precinct (which, for my international friends, was the building that housed the officers who murdered George Floyd),
“Facing the Fire” reflects on the murder of George Floyd, police brutality, and the civil unrest of 2020. Originally presented in the fall of 2022 on Lake Street East, east of Hiawatha Avenue in the Longfellow Neighborhood of Minneapolis, “Facing the Fire” was composed of seven performances of projection art and sound conducted on abandoned and damaged properties all along Lake Street. It was at that first performance here at the ruins of the former 3rd Precinct where Paul met Chris Mozena, board member of Longfellow Rising, who then pitched the idea of remounting Facing the Fire, with a deeper focus on social justice, and the municipal neglect of the property, which is a persistent reminder of the horrible events of that summer and an ever-present eyesore that magnifies the City’s longstanding inability to address the community’s needs.
The projection art in Facing the Fire is composed of hundreds of images sourced from local and international media, street art from around the nation, graphs whose statistics chart the violence perpetrated onto local communities by outside radical fascist groups, archival images from the history of civil unrest along Lake Street since the 1900’s, and many recent images of the destroyed buildings in the neighborhood, images of citizens protesting during the summer of 2020, and children, for whom we need to build a better future.
Longfellow Rising is a diverse group of business owners, property-owners, nonprofit leaders, workers, and residents who have either lost buildings and businesses due to fire and civil unrest, or whose businesses have been closed and lives impacted by fire and civil unrest, and/or who are deeply involved with supporting and providing relief for the residents and business and property owners in the neighborhood.
“Facing the Fire” reflects on the murder of George Floyd, police brutality, and the civil unrest of 2020. Originally presented in the fall of 2022 on Lake Street East, east of Hiawatha Avenue in the Longfellow Neighborhood of Minneapolis, “Facing the Fire” was composed of seven performances of projection art and sound conducted on abandoned and damaged properties all along Lake Street. It was at that first performance here at the ruins of the former 3rd Precinct where Paul met Chris Mozena, board member of Longfellow Rising, who then pitched the idea of remounting Facing the Fire, with a deeper focus on social justice, and the municipal neglect of the property, which is a persistent reminder of the horrible events of that summer and an ever-present eyesore that magnifies the City’s longstanding inability to address the community’s needs.
The projection art in Facing the Fire is composed of hundreds of images sourced from local and international media, street art from around the nation, graphs whose statistics chart the violence perpetrated onto local communities by outside radical fascist groups, archival images from the history of civil unrest along Lake Street since the 1900’s, and many recent images of the destroyed buildings in the neighborhood, images of citizens protesting during the summer of 2020, and children, for whom we need to build a better future.
Longfellow Rising is a diverse group of business owners, property-owners, nonprofit leaders, workers, and residents who have either lost buildings and businesses due to fire and civil unrest, or whose businesses have been closed and lives impacted by fire and civil unrest, and/or who are deeply involved with supporting and providing relief for the residents and business and property owners in the neighborhood.
