SHEDDING LIGHT ON POLICE BRUTALITY

An Honors Thesis Manuscript

Presented by
Colin James OBrien

Completion Date:
April, 2015

Approved By:

Annaliese Bischoff, Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning

ABSTRACT

Title: Shedding Light on Police Brutality

Author: Colin OBrien
Thesis/Project Type: Art Installation
Approved By: Annaliese Bischoff
A white police officer killed a Black person almost two times a week during the seven years
preceding 2012 in the United States (Hoyer 2014). Americas history and continuing trend of
police brutality is unacceptable and must be stopped. Because police departments have failed to
put an end to this trend the solution must come from U.S. citizens themselves. For this to happen
there must first be a national discourse among U.S. citizens concerning these issues. This project
outlines a plan to empower individuals and to contribute to the local discourse on police brutality
through a public art installation. Ideally the project will be installed on the eastern side of the
UMass parking garage to maximize its visibility to its target audience, members of the UMass
community. The project takes the form of an 8x4x1 dynamic display of LED lights controlled
by an Arduino, a microcontroller. The LEDs display a series of curated pairs of phrases,
juxtaposed. These phrases quote the voices of police brutality victims and non-victims to send a
powerful message to the viewer. The entire system will be energetically self sufficient, powered
using a solar panel. The systems housing will be fabricated using a 3D printer. In planning this
installation four simulations were run to test and analyze viewers responses. These simulations
consisted of hour long public projections of the pairs of phrases to be displayed by the
installation. Viewers responses to these simulations were positive in all respects.

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1

On Display, Joe OConnell and Blessing Hancock.3

Figure 2

GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall, Simone Giostra & Partners Architects4

Figure 3

Desaparecen Primero Las Palabras, Thomas Charveriat and Miriam Llorens4

Figure 4

Kind of Blue, Jenny Holzer..5

Figure 5

Overpass Light Brigade, Lane Hall and Lisa Moline..6

Figure 6

The Illuminator6

Figure 7

LilyPad Arduino..9

Figure 8

Projecting at UMass Fine Arts Center11

QUOTATION ATTRIBUTIONS FROM VIDEO ARTIFACT

I have a dream - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
I cant breathe - Eric Garner
Sweet land of liberty - Samuel Francis Smith in My Country, 'Tis of Thee
They had him like a deer, hunting him - Maria Paniagua on Antonio Zambrano-Montes death
From every mountainside let freedom ring - Samuel Francis Smith in My Country, 'Tis of Thee
I will put you on the ground - Police assailants of Sureshbhai Patel
Liberty and justice for all - United States Pledge of Allegiance
Why did you shoot me? - Levar Jones, unarmed black man shot by South Carolina Police
We serve and protect - Chicago Police Department
Theyll shoot you, theyll kill you - Bernard Ewing on Michael Browns death
"Land of the free and home of the brave - United States National Anthem
Hands up, dont shoot - Saying originating from the shooting of Michael Brown
For black and for white, lets stop all the fight - John Lennon
Badges dont grant extra rights - copblock.org
I know I did my job right - Darren Wilson
Statistic: Over 75% of Ferguson residents have open arrest warrants
- DOJ Police Report and city population statistics
Unarmed African-American men are shot and killed by police at an alarming rate. This pattern
must stop - Jeffrey Mittman of the NAACP
Why do we let this continue? How many more must die? - Obiora Embry
Be the change you want to see in the world - Mahatma Gandhi

CONTENTS
Chapter I: Introduction.1
Chapter II: Inspiration..2
A. Case Studies on Art Using Light.3
B. Case Studies on Art Using Text...4
C. Case Studies on Art Integrating Light and/or Text for Activism.5
Chapter III: Methods7
A. Original Conception of LED Sculpture..7
B. My Introduction to Learning Arduino.....8
C. Quotation Curation....10
D. Simulation Projection11
Chapter IV: Results13
A. Analysis of Reactions to the Projected Simulation..13
B. Next Steps: Constructing the LED Sculpture14
Chapter V: Conclusion...16
Bibliography..17

!1
Chapter I: Introduction
For as long as our communities have employed police officers, some of these officers
have abused their power. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century several incidents of
police brutality occurred on the site of labor strikes. A number of these incidents are even
reported to have been sanctioned by officials. Since then the issue has only grown worse: Cases
of police brutality have increased in number and have been predominantly aimed at minorities,
specifically Blacks. In 1943 a New York City police officer fatally shot Robert Bandy, a Black
man. This incident incited a two day long riot during which six people were killed (Wikipedia).
In 1964 a New York City police officer fatally shot James Powell, a 15 year old Black boy. This
killing sparked a series of riots beginning in Harlem where Powell was shot. These riots in turn
became sites for further police brutality aimed against Blacks (New York Race Riots 2013).
Similar riots rooted in race and police brutality occurred in Los Angeles in 1965 as well as in
Detroit and over one hundred other communities in America during 1967. Following the Civil
Rights Movement era surprisingly little changed in terms of police brutality. In 1991 five Los
Angeles police officers brutally beat Rodney King, an unarmed Black man, and were not
prosecuted. This injustice was the cause of a riot in 1992 Los Angeles during which 53 people
were killed (Bach 2014).
Sadly atrocities such as these are still occurring today. This year in Ferguson, Missouri,
police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown, an 18 year old Black man. This killing
and the subsequent failure to indict officer Wilson sparked riots and protests nation wide.
Another case of police brutality occurred this year when a New York City police officer used an
illegal choking technique to subdue Eric Garner, eventually killing him (Murdock 2014). These

!2
incidents barely scratch the surface of the multitude of cases in which police have brutalized and
killed innocent United States citizens.
Americas history and continuing trend of police brutality and abuse of power is
unacceptable and must be stopped. It seems the solution to this problem will not come from
within police departments for they have failed to put an end to this awful trend thus far. I believe
the solution must therefor come from the outside, from the citizens of the U.S.. In order for this
to happen there must be a discourse about these issues among citizens on a national level. This
discourse can generally begin at a local level and expand nationally over time. Only after
awareness is spread will change be possible.
The objective of my thesis is twofold: I intend to empower members of the UMass
Amherst community and to contribute to the discourse about police brutality and abuse of power
in the U.S.. This objective is based upon my hypothesis that local thought and discourse
regarding police brutality can lead to national change in the way that U.S. police officers treat the
citizens they are sworn to protect. My project is a local one, intended to empower, be viewed by
and add to the discourse among members of the UMass Amherst community and the
communities surrounding it. My thesis outlines a plan to accomplish this goal through the
medium of a public art installation on the UMass Amherst campus.
Chapter II: From the State of the Art
The form of my project is inspired by several artists who use light and/or text to create
visually engaging pieces, some of which promote activism. In this section I will discuss several
of the art pieces that particularly inspired and guided me in making this project.

!3
A. Case Studies on Art Using Light
One of the first pieces that inspired my design, On Display, is by Joe OConnell and
Blessing Hancock, two artists who work primarily on large public art installations defined by
light and color. Commissioned by Denver Arts & Venues, On Display is a series of illuminated,
life sized enclosures. Each piece in the series is uniquely shaped, made out of acrylic and
stainless steel and illuminated using colored LED lights. Viewers are encouraged to step inside
the seven foot tall structures and bathe in the LED glow. Touch sensors on the surfaces of the
pieces allow viewers to interact with them directly. The pieces in this series are meant to
represent shop windows. Window shoppers are usually separated from the
items on display by a glass barrier and this piece attempts to break down
that boundary. By inviting viewers to step inside and interact with the
pieces the artists explore the idea of public viewing, questioning who is
the participant and who is the audience (OConnell 2015). Instead of
viewing items on display from the outside the viewers themselves are
displayed as if in a shop window. I attribute a great deal of my inspiration
to use light in my project to this piece, along with other similar works by

On Display, Joe
OConnell and
Blessing Hancock

OConnell and Hancock.

Another art installation that I found inspirational to my project is the GreenPix Zero
Energy Media Wall made by Simone Giostra & Partners Architects. Commissioned by the
Chinese Jingya Corporation, this faade converts the front of the Xicui Entertainment Center in
Beijing into a 2,000 square meter interactive display of color changing LEDs, the largest in the
world. The media wall is made up of 2,922 color changing LED lights housed behind glass. It is

!4
energetically self sufficient, generating its own power using polycrystalline photovoltaic cells
that are located behind the screen. Solar power charges the screen during the day and provides
enough energy to illuminate it during the night. It is purposefully low
resolution in order to conserve energy and make it stand out from other
large scale LED screens. Giostra states the design was inspired by the
flickering light on an oceans undulating surface (Simone Giostra &
Partners Architects 2008). It displays abstracted images reminiscent of
the ocean, meant to bring life to the original plain exterior of the building
upon which it is installed. This piece inspired me to increase the size
of my LED sculpture and to incorporate a solar panel into my

GreenPix Zero Energy

Media Wall, Simone Giostra
& Partners Architects

design, making my sculpture energetically self sufficient as well.

B. Case Studies on Art Using Text
Another source of my inspiration is Desaparecen Primero las
Palabras, an installation created by Thomas Charveriat and Miriam
Llorns. This piece is particularly important to me because of its
incorporation of both text and LED lights. It consists of an interactive
LED sculpture which displays a poem. Artists Charveriat and Llorns
base their work on the question how can a word appear or
disappear? (Charveriat 2005). When a viewer waves their hand in
front of the piece the words of the poem begin to disappear,
reappearing with another wave of the hand. The entire sculpture

Desaparecen Primero las

Palabras, Thomas Charveriat
and Miriam Llorns

measures 324 x 18 x 5. It is made up of 160 alphanumeric LED displays and 160 infrared

!5
sensors, all held inside an aluminum housing (Charveriat 2005). The infrared sensors detect the
viewers hand motion and the LEDs display the poem. This piece served as a great inspiration for
my design; The similarities between it and my planned LED sculpture are apparent. I would be
interested in learning how Charveriat and Llorns control their LED displays and infrared
sensors. In my project I plan to use an Arduino to do this and I wouldn't be surprised if their
piece uses a similar microcontroller.
Jenny Holzers art has been an essential source of inspiration
for my design. Renowned across the globe for her installation pieces,
Holzer has been creating art out of text for decades using a variety of
media including posters, projections, clothing and of course, LED
displays. Holzers installation Kind of Blue consists of seven dynamic
blue LED displays. These displays take the form of long strips in the
floor of a room at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.
Holzers LEDs show the words of a poem continuously scrolling

Kind of Blue, Jenny Holzer

across museum floor at various speeds. The room housing Kind of Blue faces a pond which, at
night, reflects the words of the LED poem a second time ("The Weight of Words 2013). This
installation, along with others made by Holzer, inspires me to incorporate text in my LED
sculpture and serves as a guide to my design process.
C. Case Studies on Art Integrating Light and/or Text for Activism
The Overpass Light Brigade is a public art initiative focusing on activism. The project
was originally started in 2011 by Lane Hall and Lisa Moline. These two Wisconsin artists were
interested in raising awareness for the campaign to recall newly elected Governor Scott Walker.

!6
To accomplish this Hall and Moline created a series of illuminated LED signs to be held by
activists at night on overpasses above highways. Each of these signs displays one letter, spelling
out a word or phrase when held together in formation by several individuals. The LED signs
were so successful that Hall and Moline continued the project online by posting a simple guide to
creating the signs and by creating an online community, self described as a loose and inclusive
affiliation of people dedicated to the power of peaceful
protest and artful activism (Hall 2013). This project
demonstrates the power and visibility achieved by
combining light and text in public art. Recognizing the
similarities between the Overpass Light Brigades signs
and my idea of an LED sculpture inspires me to take my
project in a similar direction, combining light and text to

Overpass Light
Brigade, Lane Hall
and Lisa Moline

accomplish goals rooted in activism.

The Illuminator is a collective of anonymous public artists
which originally formed as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement
in New York City. This collective operates mainly by using a van
equipped with audio and video projection capabilities to transform
public spaces in ways that encourage education and dialogue about
the grievances that the Occupy movement is focused on. According
to the Statement page of their website The Illuminator has staged
hundreds of interventions in public spaces both geographical and

The Illuminator

virtual, as acts of incitement and invitation since its formation (The Illuminator 2015). One of

!7
The Illuminators recent spectacles was the projection of Edward Snowdens bust on top of a
monument to American prisoners of war in New York Citys Fort Greene Park. Days before this
projection a separate group of anonymous artists created a cast metal bust of Snowden which
they erected on top of the same New York City monument. The metal bust was of course taken
down soon after by city officials. In response to the removal of the metal bust The Illuminator
projected a 3D hologram of Snowdens bust on top of the monument from which the metal bust
was removed (Goldstein 2015). The Illuminators projection of Snowden plays an important role
in my design process, serving as my inspiration to use a projector for the public simulation of my
LED sculpture.
Chapter III: Methods
A. Original Conception of LED Sculpture
My planned public art installation will take the form of an eight foot long, four foot wide
and one foot deep dynamic display of LED lights. This display of LEDs will be controlled by a
microcontroller called an Arduino. Both the Arduino and the LEDs will be enclosed in a housing
which will be fabricated using a 3D printer. This LED array will display a series of paired,
juxtaposed phrases. These phrases pertain to police brutality, quoting the voices of police
brutality victims in addition those of non-victims such as protesters and commentators. The
entire system of the Arduino and LEDs will be energetically self sufficient. This will be
accomplished by using a solar panel to charge an attached battery during the day. This battery
will power the Arduino and LEDs, illuminating them during the night.
I wanted to install my LED sculpture in a highly trafficked area of campus. My first
choice location was above the western entrance to the UMass Campus Center. In order to have

!8
an art piece installed anywhere on campus, one must first receive approval from the Public Arts
Committee. I met with this committee early on in the stages of my plan. I explained to them my
idea for an installation and told them where I wanted to located it. The Public Arts Committee
informed me of a school rule that no art installation may modify the exterior of a UMass
building. The Committee also mentioned that the hotel and dining areas inside the Campus
Center would likely not welcome an art installation on my chosen topic of police brutality.
Although this was discouraging, the committee did suggest a location for my project that would
not involve modifying the exterior of any building. If I installed the piece on top of the eastern
outer wall of an upper level of the campus parking garage I would avoid having to modify the
building and would achieve almost the same level of visibility as if I had installed the piece
above the western entrance to the Campus Center. This became my new planned installation site.
Meeting the Committee made me realize that the mere nature of my project may be
unappealing to potential hosts, making it difficult to find a suitable location. After some thought,
I came up with several alternative options for my LED sculptures location, in case those in
charge of the parking garage declined. Some local organizations that I think would be
worthwhile to ask to host my sculpture include the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst,
the Jewish Community of Amherst, the Wesley United Methodist Church, the neighboring
Northampton Friends Meeting as well as the Bartlett or Herter buildings on the UMass campus,
as these house mainly social science departments.
B. My Introduction to Learning Arduino
It became clear early on in my research that in order to construct my LED sculpture I
would have to achieve a certain level of skill in programming Arduinos and basic electronic

!9
circuitry. I began this learning online, finding several indispensable resources for Arduino
programming such as an Arduino simulator and several user-generated guides to its use. I used
these guides to gain a basic knowledge of Arduino programming.
However my true introduction to Arduinos came later at a workshop I attended. This
workshop was presented by Ayliffe Brown, a student at
Hampshire College. It was one component of Ayliffes
Div III project, a project similar to a thesis. I was lucky to
find out about her workshop early on. When I realized the
huge parallel between my plan and her project, I
contacted her and reserved a spot at her workshop.

LilyPad Arduino

Ayliffes workshop focused on creating wearable technology using Arduinos. She had
recently interned at a company that produces Arduinos and accessories called SparkFun, and had
decided to focus the remainder of her studies in this area. During her several hour long workshop
she taught how Arduinos can be used to create wearable technology. I was happy to find that
these skills applied directly to my intended use of the Arduino as well. Ayliffe had arranged a
grant with the Hampshire College Library which allowed her to purchase ten LilyPad Arduinos,
all of which she gave to the attendants of her workshop to take home. Ayliffe and her workshop
were a very lucky discovery for me because the workshop served as my first hands-on
introduction to a real Arduino. I left her workshop with my new LilyPad Arduino in my hand and
with a great deal of knowledge and inspiration in my head. Perhaps the most important thing I
learned at her workshop was the ease with which one can program an Arduino and make it

!10
control LED lights in the way that I wanted to. I knew right away that a platform as simple as
this would be accessible to almost anybody interested in building the LED sculpture.
C. Quotation Curation
I began my curation of the pairs of phrases to be displayed by researching past and
present instances of police brutality. I collected much of the information on recent instances of
police brutality from news articles while older information on police brutality in the U.S. was
gathered from historical accounts. My resources for this research included the UMass Library, a
U.S. Department of Justice report titled Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department and
several informative websites and news outlets.
Some of the most powerful words that have been said regarding past and present police
brutality came from the mouths of the victims themselves. I curated the series of juxtaposed
phrases intending to send a powerful message against police brutality to the viewer. I chose these
pairs of phrases with deliberation. I intended to impress upon viewers the vast gap between the
way in which America and its police force portray themselves and the disgusting truth of their
actions.
Many of the pairs of phrases follow a common theme. Often one phrase is an easily
recognizable saying pertaining to American freedom such as Liberty and justice for all from
the United States Pledge of Allegiance or the motto of a police force such as the Chicago Police
Departments We serve and protect. The other phrase quotes the words of victims of police
brutality such as the last words of Eric Garner, I cant breathe or the words of witnesses of
police brutality such as Bernard Ewing, saying Theyll shoot you. Theyll kill you.

!11
In addition to many pairs of such phrases, and near the end of their display, I included
staggering statistics about the police state in the U.S. and a call to action: You see, but what will
you do? In the last phrase I quote Mahatma Gandhi, requesting that we Be the change that you
wish to see in the world. I believe that ending with this call to action makes the series of phrases
all the more powerful. I hope that this arrangement of quotations empowers viewers and
contributes to the local discourse about police brutality.
D. Simulation Projection
One component in planning this installation was running a public simulation of the text to
be displayed. I wanted to see the range of viewers responses to the pairs of quotations and
analyze them before submitting the final plan for my installation. This simulation took the form
of a video displaying the pairs of quotations I had curated. I have included the video as an
artifact accompanying this thesis.
Before publicly displaying the simulation, I visited the Fine Arts Center to perform a test
run. I borrowed my friends projector, and used it in conjunction with a long extension cord and
my laptop to project my simulation onto the chosen outside wall. I projected the simulation over
the course of the evenings sunset, and concluded that it was only worthwhile to project at night.
The ambient light before night was too bright, making it impossible to see my projection.
In order to draw attention and viewers to my public projected simulations I created a
promotional Facebook event. This Facebook event
included excerpts from my abstract as a description,
and detailed the location and time of the projected
simulations.
Projecting at UMass Fine Arts Center

!12
I projected this video simulation publicly on three occasions. These three public
projections took place outdoors for about an hour beginning once the sun had set at eight
oclock. I chose to project the simulation onto the largest concrete outside wall of the Fine Arts
Center at UMass to maximize visibility to passers by. I arrived ten minutes before eight and
found a nearby outdoor wall outlet. I plugged in and ran my extension cord from there to a spot
in front of the wall I chose to project onto. I set up the projector I had borrowed, connected it to
my laptop and played the video on a repeating loop for an hour.
During these three hour long public projections I had a video camera set up on a tripod
several feet behind the projector in order to record both the projection and the reactions of
passers by. I kept an audio recording device with me in order to record any important
conversations I might have with passers by. Many friends who I had invited showed up to watch
and support me. Even more importantly for me, many passers by stopped, took an interest and
spoke with me about the project. Everyone who stopped and watched the projection reacted to it
positively.
In addition to these three public projections, I projected my simulation privately on one
occasion. This private projection took place at EquaRox, a music and art event in Holyoke with a
focus on social justice and equality. I was invited to run my projection EquaRox by a friend of a
friend who had seen the Facebook event I made and decided my projection would fit the events
theme perfectly. This private projection was also a success. I was able to talk with many more
people about my project and everyone I spoke with appreciated it. These simulations were very
encouraging to me. People reacted so well to the projections that I was confident my choice of
pairs of quotations had been successful.

!13
Chapter IV: Results
A. Analysis of Reactions to the Projected Simulation
The only negative response that my project received came shortly after I created the
Facebook event promoting my simulation projections. I had not yet projected the simulations, I
had only made an event on Facebook. An acquaintance of mine messaged me soon after I created
the event. Her message, littered with harsh words and swears, essentially called me insensitive
and indeed racist for taking on this project against police brutality, a phenomenon that affects
primarily people of color. She reasoned that because I am white I cannot ever truly know what it
is like to be a person of color living in the U.S., constantly threatened by the possibility of police
brutality. Because of this, she said, it was not my place to create such a project.
My immediate reaction was one of defense. How could my project, aiming to empower
residents of the UMass Amherst area and to contribute to the local discourse about the horrors of
police brutality, be racist? This accusation represented, literally, the antithesis of my projects
intent. The only comforting thought I had was that this was a reaction not to my simulation itself
but to the Facebook event I posted. If my acquaintance saw my projection, surely she would
think differently.
After thinking for some time I calmed myself and came to the personal conclusion that
my project is appropriate and hopefully will be effective, regardless of my race. It certainly is in
no way racist. I agree wholeheartedly with her statement that I can never truly know what it is
like to be a person of color living in the U.S., but I do not believe that this fact precludes me
from creating a project to empower people and contribute to the discourse about police brutality.
I believe that the more this issue is discussed, debated, written about and portrayed through the

!14
medium of art the more quickly national change will come about in the way police officers treat
U.S. citizens. Needless to say, this reaction caused me to be a bit nervous during my public
simulation projections.
Because this initial negative reaction was so unexpected, I wasnt sure what to expect in
terms of other viewers reactions. Devoid of any prior expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by
the reactions I received at the simulation projections themselves. As I discussed previously many
passers by who saw my projection stopped to take a closer look. Some even came to talk with me
about the project. I received comments and questions such as When will you be doing this
again?, Its great that someone is promoting a discussion about these issues and even Good
job for doing this. People were enthusiastic about it, seemingly encouraged by the fact that I
took this topic on for my public art project. These positive reactions to my simulation projections
informed me that the quotation pairs I chose had been effective. These would be the words
displayed by my completed LED sculpture.
B. Next Steps: Constructing the LED Sculpture
The plan I have outlined in this project must become a reality. In order for this to happen,
the constructor of the LED sculpture must have a certain level of skill and knowledge. The
constructor will need to have a basic knowledge of electrical circuitry, the ability to assemble the
small components of the Arduino and LEDs and the programming skills to make the Arduino
control the LEDs and display the appropriate text. Ideally I would like this project to be
accessible to as many people as possible. To ensure that anybody interested in constructing the
LED sculpture is able to do so I have collected a number of essential resources which aid in
learning these requisite skills. These are the same resources with which I began learning to

!15
program the Arduino. Although I gained a large portion of my skill and knowledge of Arduinos
from Ayliffes workshop I am confident that these online resources are sufficient for anyone
interested in learning how to use an Arduino for the purpose of this LED sculpture.
Autodesks website 123d.circuits.io offers several tools that make learning how to use the
Arduino an easy endeavor. One of these is a tool that simulates, builds and tests electronic
circuits. Another is an Arduino simulator that allows users to program and test prospective code
for an Arduino. These tools are essential for anyone unfamiliar with Arduinos.
I have also collected three online guides to learning about the Arduino that I found to be
especially helpful as a beginner. These guides are hosted on the websites arduino.cc,
learn.adafruit.com and instructables.com. Arduino.cc is the official website of Arduino and offers
multiple guides explaining how to program it for various purposes. Learn.adafruit.com is a third
party website that sells Arduinos and other electronic components in addition to providing
tutorials for their use. Autodesks project Instructibles.com offers a collection of in-depth
tutorials made by its community members. These tutorials cover a broad range of topics
including programming Arduinos to control the action of LEDs. Luckily for the prospective
Arduino user there is a strong online community of Arduino enthusiasts. Members of this
community are often more than happy to help newcomers learn about Arduinos. Sometimes they
are even willing to oversee the construction of projects such as my LED sculpture. They try to
make it as easy as possible for newcomers to learn the skills they need.
These are the resources with which I began to learn about Arduinos. These tools, guides
and community members helped me gain the basic skills of Arduino programming. My true
introduction to Arduinos came later at Ayliffes workshop, but as I mentioned earlier, one of the

!16
most important things that I learned at her workshop was that Arduinos are easy to use and
accessible to almost anyone. I know firsthand that these resources teach the skills required to
build this LED sculpture.
Chapter V: Conclusion
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts newly hired director Matthew Teitelbaum recently
stated that artists are the most courageous people because they put themselves in the firing
line and in the public eye over and over again, with uncertainty (Bowen 2015). Ive come to
agree with Teitelbaum. While carrying out this project I have gained a better understanding of the
role of the artist in the world of activism. It seems that in general activism takes place among
large groups of people. Whether its a march, a riot or a peaceful protest, most cases of activism
involve the greater community. It is this matter of belonging to a community that separates the
activist-artist from other activists. While the majority of activists are backed by a crowd of
supporters activist-artists usually are not. Activist-artists take a much more personal approach,
reflecting their inner thoughts and feelings pertaining to their cause. In doing so, activist-artists
open themselves up to criticisms from all directions. I learned this firsthand when I received the
message accusing me of racism. I have always believed that making art necessarily involves
taking risks; I now know that making activist art involves even greater risks.

!17
BIBLIOGRAPHY
123D Circuits. "Web Browser Arduino Simulation." Instructables. Autodesk, Inc., 2015. Web. 14
Dec. 2014. <http://www.instructables.com/id/Web-Browser-Arduino-Simulation/>.
"Adafruit Learning System: LEDS." Adafruit Learning System. Ed. Limor Fried. Adafruit
Industries, LLC, 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <https://learn.adafruit.com/category/leds>.
"Arduino - Learn the Basics." Arduino. Arduino LLC, 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://
arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage>.
Bach, Natasha. "Police Violence Has Been Going On Forever. No Wonder People Are Fed Up
With It." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 23 Aug. 2014. Web. 14
Dec. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/23/police-brutality-michaelbrown_n_5700970.html>.
Bowen, Jared. "Jared Bowen Interviews New MFA Boston Director, Matthew Teitelbaum."
WGBH. WGBH, 10 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://wgbhnews.org/post/watchjared-bowen-interviews-new-mfa-boston-director-matthew-teitelbaum>.
Buechley, Leah. LilyPad Arduino. Digital image. LilyPad Arduino. LilyPad Arduino, 13 Jan.
2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://lilypadarduino.org/wp-content/uploads/lilypadblinks-ANNO.jpg>.
Campbell, Jim. "Broken Window." Jim Campbell: Portfolio: Public Art & Commissions. White
Light, Inc., Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.jimcampbell.tv/portfolio/
public_art/broken_window/>.

!18
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United States. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division. Investigation of the Ferguson Police
Department. N.p.: n.p., 2015. Print.