Prank Signs Advertising 'Future Internment Camp' Pop Up At Chicago Sites
By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 6, 2017 10:32PM
Courtesy of Plastic Jesus
If you recently happened upon an alarming notice of a "Future Internment Camp" at a construction site or empty lot in Chicago, allow us to calm your nerves: No, you didn't miss a second dispiritingly retrograde executive-order announcement. The "camps" are not real, and the signs are actually the handiwork of noted prankster artist Plastic Jesus.
With the help of stealthy local assistants in each location, Plastic Jesus—best known for February's crucifixion statue of Kanye West on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles—was able to tag sites in 10 different cities over the weekend, the secretive street artist told Chicagoist. As the above photo shows, one of the Chicago "internment camps" was designated for the future Apple Store along the riverwalk. (The gleaming Trump Tower in the background would seem to be a purposeful photographic choice.) The artist also labeled two more Chicago "camps" at the corner of Clark and Addison, by Wrigley Field, and at Wicker Park.
Courtesy of Plastic Jesus
Plastic Jesus said the signs in Chicago went up late Saturday or early Sunday, but he didn't intend them to coincide with Trump's latest executive order.
"But barely a week goes by that he doesn't do something like that," the artist said. "We could have put them up at any moment and an immigration story would have paired up."
The signs are likely gone if crews spotted them on their returns to work on Monday morning, Plastic Jesus reckons. But if eagle-eyed viewers should happen to spot one, a close reading bears reward. The "camp" designations are issued via Executive Order 9066—a reference to the order that Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1942, clearing the way for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The signs also went up in New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Houston, and D.C.