Shia LaBeouf has always been a favorite actor of mine. The past couple years have been some interesting ones for him. Not many know what he has been up to and I just pieced together the work that he has been doing myself. A lot of people remember his drunken night that he talked about on a late night show, which was hilarious. I’m sure we all remember when he had the paper bag over his head saying “I’m Not Famous Anymore.” Then he had the weird incident where he let people come in and interact with him any way they desired, which from rumors I heard even resulted in him being sexually assaulted. I think what most likely caught people’s attention was the live stream of him watching his own movies. Either way, it appeared that Shia was up to something, I just never actually knew what he was doing, but he was working on something great.
I was strolling around on the Internet when I came across the hashtag, #takemeanywhere. Following that, it led me to the amazing art that was being done by a group of three people. Shia and two other artists, Luke Turner and Nastja Rönkkö. These three artists were previously traveling the world, leaving their coordinates displayed on the Internet with the hashtag #takemeanywhere. Anyone was able to pick them up and take them where they desired. You see, ever since Shia had been accused of plagiarism from a short film he made he had been thinking about something. After his apologies came across as disingenuous, he wondered about the distance that is between celebrities and the public, or the rest of humanity. The status of being a celebrity changed the way he was relating to people, or if he could even still relate to them at all. He no longer felt he could genuinely be himself, it had gotten lost in the limelight.
The three artists came together to see if they could reconnect that bridge that had been burned between celebrities and humanity. From tracking his heartbeat live to the Internet, to answering phone calls from tribes that were praying for them, this trio has seen all sorts of connections with humanity. One exhibit placed Shia in front of others as they were allowed to do whatever they chose with him. He gave himself over to humanity in order to relate to them. He placed himself in the place where he was vulnerable and able to be taken advantage of, for the betterment of the relationship. While some of these exhibits have seemed extreme they show the passion of three artists to close the gap that we find between those who are perceived as high up in society and those who are just the normal humans.
This speaks largely on our desire to connect as humans, to know each other and be vulnerable with each other. While not all of us have the courage as these three artists do, the desire to connect is deep in all of us. This all going to say it reminded me of an ancient story that I once read. A story of a being who was worthy of all the praise he received, he was glorious in his positioning and he was far off from the rest of humanity. This being longed and desired to connect and be with the people, so he plotted a way. This being stepped into the very flesh of those he desired. He stepped into their shoes and their very lives, going through the same struggles that we do. Seeing the same pain that we do, feeling the same anguish that we feel. In every way he became like us, for the very purpose that we could connect. Maybe these artists speak so well to our soul because we belong to a grander story of connection. Maybe these artists are but a shadow of the one who is reaching out to us.
