Shia LaBeouf has teamed up with iconic New York City toy store, FAO Schwarz, to bring his newest performance art piece to life. #OUTSIDETHELINES is Shia’s most recent piece with collaborators Luke Turner and Nastja Säde Rökkö.
The piece will take place between Dec.18-20, 2015 at FAO Schwarz in Manhattan. The piece invites the public on Shia’s three-day colouring bender, where he will colour both within and outside the lines in an attempt to bring back fellow humans to their roots.
“My collaborators and I wanted to create something that leveled everyone on the same playing field. Something that broke down the division between celebrity and the individual, between child and adult, between this profession and that profession. I wanted to nostalgize the playfulness we had as children; a time when there were no divisions, just human beings having fun with art,” Labeouf told The Ontarion in a series of emails. In the past year the trio has given us poignant, yet hopeful and sincere pieces such as #IAMSORRY and #ALLMYMOVIES. LaBeouf’s performance art pieces has had the human condition as its central tenant. Shia and his collaborators sought to break down the division between celebrity as a meme, and the individual as a person to reveal the deeply twisted nature of celebrity culture.
#IAMSORRY hatched in February 2014, and for five days individuals from the public could sit alone in a room with LaBeouf and interact with him however they chose. Shia was under a vow of silence during the whole piece—which has become the norm for all of these pieces, including his upcoming #OUTSIDETHELINES. #IAMSORRY sometimes lead to tears, sometimes laughter; and once Shia’s collaborators had to intervene to prevent rape. “I went from being a celebrity or object to a fellow human,” Shia said after reflecting on the piece. “It happened in less than a second for some.”
Similarly, #ALLMYMOVIES dissolved the celebrity as an object for public scrutiny, and created an intimate connection between spectator and artist. For three days anybody could tune-in to Shia watching all his movies in reverse chronological order. From Shia hardly staying awake during Transformers to him in tears of laughter during the Even Steven’s movie, all of us got a sense that LaBeouf was just another guy we’d want to have drinks with.
“I’m just an animal in this human thing,” Shia said after the piece. “But coming out of there, it’s the first time I’ve actually felt part of this—it was very humanizing for me. I walked out loving myself.”
The Ontarion exchanged emails with the Fury star and the following took place:
Shia LaBeouf: Hello—I’m Shia, if you have any interest we could start a dialogue, if not, no harm no foul. I like your point of view.
Matteo Cimellaro: Oh, thanks man, I appreciate that, really. I’m a huge fan. I’m wondering where you find the inspiration for your art pieces? They all seem arbitrary and simple, yet the message is always deeply moving. I guess the other question is, what are you trying to accomplish in your pieces, both personally and communally?
S.L.: I don’t separate art activities from everyday life, it’s performance material—walking, eating, touching, colouring etc.—so we just create situations that are like game assignments and they all become a part of an individual/collective exploratory process. It’s a non-verbal theater of spectator participation that aims to create a self-portrait of the observer. As for the personal aspect: I’m finding myself through the networks, and exploring the multiplicity of personas. The public me. The private me. I’m exploring. What started as an actual full-blown existential crisis, is now a full-blown existential exploration.
M.C.: God, I love you Shia. That was beautiful. Now, you used to be more of a Hollywood plug per se, playing in big-budget Michael Bay films; and you chose what seemed more like conservative script-choices. Now the question is, what or who lead you down the path towards deeper artistic integrity and method acting?
S.L.: I think the method thing attributed to me has more to do with my commitment level. I’m a real fake tree, I make the leap, I don’t question the authenticity, that’s an Allan Kaprow thing. The “illusion” is that I’m making it up as I go there—all the way out there. You find the truth out there. I take things to the edge and off. I’m constantly jumping off cliffs, and developing my wings on the way down, in life and art. It’s a gamble, a deep spiritual gamble. You are who you choose to be. It’s a choice. If you are what you eat, and you choose to eat different food, you become a different person. The roles shape you. Life imitates art.
Shia and I have been exchanging emails for a number of weeks now, and still are while he prepares for #OUTSIDETHELINES. Shia will be broadcasting #OUTSIDETHELINES live from FAO Schwarz on his website www.thecampaignbook.com.