Shia LaBeouf has switched his focus from mainstream acting to activism and performance art. He’s had a couple interesting projects lately – interesting at least in concept. He livestreamed his day of riding in an elevator and his reactions to all his movies in a three-day marathon of watching them. He and fellow art collective members, Nastja Rönkkö and Luke Turner, hitchhiked for a month via Twitter. His latest venture, HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US, an anti-Trump installation, eventually had to be shut down due to violence from anti-semites. But, like a true artist, Shia and crew cannot be deterred. Starting yesterday, they sequestered themselves in isolated cabins in Finland for a month, and can only communicate with museum patrons via text for their new project, #ALONETOGETHER.
Shia LaBeouf’s latest stunt is to spend a month isolated in a cabin in Finland’s remote Lapland region with his only communication with the outside world coming via text message to visitors to a Helsinki museum.
The project is called #ALONETOGETHER and involves the other two members of the actor’s art collective, Nastja Ronkko and Luke Turner. Ronkko and Turner are also spending time isolated in separate cabins in Lapland beginning Wednesday.
Visitors to the Kiasama museum in Helsinki can visit a cabin and send a text to LaBeouf, Ronkko and Turner, who can respond to visitors but can’t talk to one another.
To fill in a few blanks, the three each have their own cabin, cut off from everyone, but there is a video feed to a small cabin in the Kiasma Museum. I don’t know if the video is the same live stream video we see on the website, a feed from inside the cabin in the museum or just a broadcast of the texts being sent. Apparently, there is no demarcation as to who is sending the texts so the entire conversation has an overall randomness to it.
I have so many thoughts about this. Firstly, I have a strong affinity for Lapland that originated from the Musk Ox exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo. When anyone says “Lapland,” my ears perk up like when my dog hears the word “bacon.” If I could choose any place on the planet to isolate myself for a month, it would likely be Lapland. So I find myself in the odd position of being wildly jealous of Shia LaBeouf. Secondly, how far away from each other are they? Can they wave to each other from the kitchen window? Thirdly, how limited are they? Can they walk outside? It’s 0 degrees currently so they probably don’t want to but can they if they choose? That pings my claustrophobia a bit. Between that and the frustration of a disjointed conversation in which the person to whom I am speaking doesn’t realize it, the project is making me anxious. However, I don’t have to watch the stream if that’s the case and the Kiasma saw enough merit behind the installation to partner with them on this. I guess, in a month’s time, I will get the answer to my penultimate question – why are they doing this?
The last thing I want to know is, what is Shia’s wife doing while he is holed up in Lapland? Sharing notes with Charlie Hunnam’s girlfriend?
Oh! Does this guy need a dog-sitter while his dad is hiding in a cabin??? *raises hand*
Photo credit: WENN Photos
He, in general, makes me anxious. Even over the internet, the vibe he puts out is very manic and it makes my stomach hurt.
I know what you mean. I always get the sense that disaster is imminent with him.
Yep. I don’t understand anything he’s doing these days. What is the point here?
Oh my gosh you’re so right!
Definitely. He stresses me right out.
I get the feeling that underneath the layer of instability and odd behavior there lies a nice guy. He became rich and famous very young and it has affected his mind.
In my view he is trying too hard to be taken seriously. He should just enjoy his career, enjoy being famous, and enjoy life in general.
I hear you 100%. When I say he makes me anxious, it’s not in such a way that I’m repulsed by him or looking down on him. It’s like I’m anxious for him because he seems so wound up and I just want him to relax. I feel like he’s my brother– I literally grew up with him, watching him on OG Disney channel. I want him to be okay.
Shia please get some help.
+1 I sincerely hope he does. It’s very apparent that something is not right with him and I wonder if he uses alcohol to self-medicate.
I became enamored with Lapland when I read the book Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida. I highly recommend it.
My performance piece, “Swirling Down the Internet Time_Suck Vortex”, features me and many others reading about Shia Laboeuf and commenting negatively on his nonsense.
Bravo! Standing ovation FOR YOU!!! *no sacarsm whatsoever*
Wasn’t there something about the fact that they didn’t actually legally marry? It was more of his “performance art”?
I get that he made insane money on Transformers (and it’s not like he has kids to support) so he can do what he likes…but…something is very wrong here. He’s heading for a rough end. Also my guess is that money is going going gone to some questionable people and things.
I know there are possible (probable?) mental health issues here, and many other issues, and I don’t want to ignore them or downplay them but I also don’t personally know Shia and I am not a mental health or behavioral health professional, so…I would just like to confess that he is my shame-do. Like, I know he looks super gross, I know he is a complete weirdo, I know his personality is probably awful, but I’d hit it. I’d shower right away afterwards, but I wouldn’t turn him down. The Sia Elastic Heart video is what started this. I blame Sia.
One of my best friends is half Finnish and goes their every couple of years-has a total blast and never says a bad word. So yes I’m also jealous.
Let’s hope he stays there.
As a Finn I have nothing against Shia staying here.
i appreciate his weirdness and how he embraces it
I would be so excited to be alone in a cabin in Finland. But I would never text the museum with the deep thinks that I’ve been thinking. I would be too busy reading trashy books and making stew.
YES. That would NOT be punishment for me.
As for Shia, I hope he’s just being a weird, pretentious artist and he’s not playing out some kind of mental health issues. I really don’t know. Otherwise, he could be falling drunk out of clubs (he’s sort of done that already) and blowing through his money instead of drawing attention and focus to a museum in Finland.
I’m tired of people judging him
I live in Finland and now is not the best time to visit. It is gorgeous bad cold during January-February and then from May to August. Currently the snow is melting and it is kind of muddy. September is also beautiful and colorful. Finns have a special word to describe the changing of the colors during fall “ruska”.
This sounds like a silent retreat but with texting- I wonder if he has alcohol and television and internet. I hope he gets some ease and stillness while he’s out there. I do a silent retreat every year and just a few days does me a world of good. An entire month can either be really rejuvenating or really hard, depending on the person.
I hope he is being careful to take any medication he is on to help with his issues. That was the one thing that worried me when I heard about this – for a normal person, a month’s retreat can be fine. But will it be fine for Shia? I haven’t heard anything about him recently, so he might be doing all right these days.
The very idea of watching the Northern Lights ~with that dog~ makes me giddy Even Shia’s nutty performance art is better than my real life. I want that chubby Sir Winston Churchill puppy!
He’s so exhausting. How in the world is that a “performance?” Just because he’s texting, instead of talking with people? Others might call that a holiday.
Sitting inside, Shia LaBeouf! Sharpening an axe, Shia LaBeouf!