Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21 wraps up its Jumpst(ART) Downtown summer art campaign with the opportunity for Milwaukeeans to put themselves into a picture of the city's diversity.
French artist JR’s decade-long (so far) global participatory art effort, The Inside Out Project, stops at the Chase Tower at Water and Wisconsin, 111 E. Wisconsin Ave., on Friday, Aug. 27 at 10 a.m., as part of a 16-city U.S. tour that also includes stops in Madison, Las Vegas, Denver, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The Inside Out Project "Citizenship for U.S." photo booth truck will set up on Water and Wisconsin in an effort to paint a picture of American diversity. Milwaukeeans can stop at the truck and have their photo taken between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and the images will be printed on-site and added to the temporary mosaic portrait of Milwaukee in the plaza in front of the Chase Tower.
Installation of 36x53-inch photos – there will be live music and free Pete’s Pops there, too – will continue until 6:30 p.m., at which point the completed portrait can be seen.
Milwaukee Downtown says, “The portraits are intended to be a reminder that behind the policies are real people with real stories that include all Americans – citizens, immigrants, and indigenous. The project provides communities and local leaders a unique platform to amplify their voices and urge Congress to move the country forward with solutions by creating a path to citizenship.”
JR created the project after winning the TED Prize in 2011.
According to the project website, “Over the past decade, more than 400,000 people spanning across 138 countries have participated in the Inside Out Project. The project has reached all of the continents, with over 2,000 actions created.
“Actions have revolved around a range of topics: diversity, community, feminism, racism, climate change, education, children’s rights, and art are just a few of them. Posters are displayed in outdoor spaces that are visible to the public. These Group Action installations are documented, and shared online.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
