Opposition Camp is a large-scale light sculpture that defends people’s right to peacefully protest by using the barricade as a symbol of global resistance. Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares will replicate an image taken from the Pro-Democracy Protests in Hong Kong, where protestors subverted the use of barricades, set out by police, and repurposed them to create an insurgent structure for their own protection. For Opposition Camp, 12 crowd-control barricades with LED lights are bound together in a disorderly composition to represent acts of resistance.

At this historic moment when the U.S. has erupted protesting racial injustice, the image of the barricade has become ubiquitous on our streets. We believe these metal barriers directly evoke anxiety, used as architecture to separate and control bodies in public spaces and limit our constitutional right to protest.

Around the country states are approving ‘anti-riot’ bills, by imposing new penalties on people who take part in civil unrest. The measures were proposed in response to Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd. Promoted to protect law and order, the bills in fact targets minorities, violates freedom of speech, and is unconstitutional for infringing on our First Amendment’s right to peacefully protest. With Opposition Camp, we aim to highlight the ubiquitous nature of the barricade and its ambiguous intent to protect and control. By transforming a utilitarian object, the glowing structure will emphasize the illusion of order versus the restrictions of rights. Opposition Camp claims space in solidarity with the perseverance of those who continue to protest injustice.