Modified riot shield created for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh
During the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the city was swamped by law enforcement units from and outside of the city. In an advance court action, the ACLU had won protesters the right to hold demonstrations during the summit. However, after the G20 visitors departed, police ordered students to disperse, but trapped them in an area with no escape and proceeded to make arrests of 25 protesters (some were my students).
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit over the mass arrests, arguing that police illegally disrupted a peaceful gathering, arrested people who were trying to follow police orders, and used excessive force including the gratuitous firing of pepper spray and rubber bullets.
In one settlement, Pittsburgh paid $88,000 to 11 of the original 25 plaintiffs. Later, in 2013, the ACLU arrived at a $400,000 final settlement of lawsuits for 13 other plaintiffs.
The gargantuan HELP WANTED project (coordinated by Sarah Ceurvorst) was installed on the Carnegie Mellon campus soccer field under helicopters flying overhead -- just in the nick of time for G20 leaders dining at neighboring Phipps Conservatory. Ceurvorst said she chose the theme to encourage everyone to help each other and discourage people from violence, fear and degradation. “We need to come together, find common ground and aid each other in our time of need.”
The project is one of several that came out of Andrew Ellis Johnson's freshman concept studio class in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon in response to the G20 visit -- with lots of help from grad assistant, Sung Rok Choi. Other freshmen projects included: G20 to Go bottled sprays to eliminate odious debt with just one squirt (Mitsuko Verdery and Molly Swartz); giant rolling heads of state made of inflated fabric (Courtney Wittekind and Lauren Faigeles; LED magnetic "throw-lights" that assembled into an illuminated giant squid climbing a cement wall (Ethan Gladding, Aaron Regal and James Wolpert); heart g20 and other sticker logo designs by Cory Juba and Garrett Nickerson and more.
Aerial view. Initiated by Sarah Ceurvorst in Andrew Ellis Johnson’s Concept Studio Course at Carnegie Mellon.
G20 to Go bottled sprays to eliminate odious debt with just one squirt by ffrst year undergraduates Mitsuko Verdery and Molly Swartz in Andrew Ellis Johnson’s Concept Studio course at Carnegie Mellon University.
Giant rolling heads of state made of inflated fabric by first years students Courtney Wittekind and Lauren Faigeles in Andrew Ellis Johnson’s Concept Studio course at Carnegie Mellon