https://twitter.com/illuminator99/status/585441198405484544

Update: On Tuesday, after one recreation of Edward Snowden was removed from a New York City park, another allegedly unaffiliated group of New York artists arrived to bring virtual Snowden back to the same location—only this time in projection form.

The Illuminator Art Collective combined two projectors and a cloud of smoke in order to display Snowden's likeness atop a Revolutionary War memorial while the morning sky was still dim in Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park. "While the State may remove any material artifacts that speak in defiance against incumbent authoritarianism, the acts of resistance remain in the public consciousness," the Collective said in a statement about the original bust's removal on Monday. "And it is in sharing that act of defiance that hope resides."

If past projections by the art group are any indication, the effect was achieved using a 15,000 lumen projector and a 2,000 watt portable generator. Though the group once warned through its blog that "projecting on public and private surfaces without permission is illegal," it also indicated that prior criminal charges over guerrilla projections have been thrown out of court.

We assume the cat-and-mouse game of dealing with unauthorized public displays of Snowden may not soon be over yet for the New York City Parks Department.

Original story:

https://twitter.com/ANIMALNewYork/status/585109173815402498

A four-foot-tall bust of Edward Snowden's head, which was erected early Monday morning in a Brooklyn park, has since been taken down by the New York City Parks Department. An NYPD press office representative confirmed that the bronze-painted plaster bust of the National Security Agency document leaker had been taken down by City Parks employees, but the rep was unable to offer any answers to Ars about potential suspects or arrests due to an "ongoing investigation."

The bust's creation and guerrilla installation were chronicled by New York arts blog Animal, complete with video interviews and blurred-face footage of the 100-pound Snowden likeness being installed on a Fort Green Park war memorial. That interview saw the creators confirm that they'd made the piece with aesthetic considerations like size and the bronze patina in mind, so it "honored the aesthetics that were already in place." In particular, the group wanted to equate Snowden's impact on American politics to the sacrifices of Revolutionary War POWs.

The artists involved spoke about the imminent possibility that the bust might not last very long in the park, along with the fact that in an Internet era, that didn't matter so much. "The fact that a risk was taken, that an image comes out of that event that can be passed around can never be undone," one of the bust's anonymous creators said. "You can rip the statue out, but you can't erase the fact that it happened and that people are sharing it—which could inspire people to speak out in their own creative ways." The artists noted that they also have smaller molds and printer-ready 3D renders ready in case they decide to create more little public Snowdens.

Between this and Snowden's appearance on HBO's Last Week Tonight on Sunday, it's hard not to see the activist's face all over the place as of late—even though, as the bust's creators noted, Snowden "never wanted the leaks to be about him." We have sent specific questions about the bust's removal to the New York City Parks Department, and we will update this report with any response.