Summary

A post on Facebook for an upcoming art–in-residence program at the INScape building in Seattle got my attention. The former INS (International Naturalization Service) was to some immigrants the place to file for their green card and to eventually be granted US citizenship. To others the INS was their cell. The former INS was operational from 1931 through 2004. Since 2010, it has become the INScape, an art space where artists have studios and it is open to the public during open house events.

Project Description

The building and its history are now woven in my consciousness since learning that I am the first artist in residence there to embark on a project on immigration. At the INS in ‘98 I received my green-card or permanent residency, and in 2008, in the USCIS (US Citizen and Immigration Services) in Tukwila I became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Unlike many of my light installations, which are abstract/non representational, the project for INScape transforms several green, laser-planes into luminous walls that divide the room. In such a place I invite people to cross the luminous walls as an action of protest against any wall, built or intended to be built, between nations. A camera records the crossing. Nobody is detained.

Preview of the project under construction: April 6th from 4 to 6 PM.

Opening and participation: April 30th from 5 to 8 PM during INScape Open House. Everybody is welcome!