Earlier this week, San Francisco officials used the Golden Gate Park Conservatory of Flowers’ sterling white exterior as a canvas for a psychedelic light show.
Meanwhile, in Oakland, local blogger Geek Pondering noticed that unidentified protesters took similar advantage of the white plastic-shrouded exterior of 1955 Broadway to project some criticism of Donald Trump on Thursday.
The message was decidedly direct.
Someone realized that Uptown Station (Uber bldg) in Oakland is a nice canvas for a protest. pic.twitter.com/b2qR2LtfH1
— Geekpondering (@geekpondering) June 23, 2017
The old Beaux-Arts Sears building on Broadway, which dates to 1929 (then an H.C. Capwell department store and a big ticket for downtown Oakland in its day), is under all of that plastic now as it undergoes a metamorphosis into a new office and retail hub dubbed “Uptown Station.”
Ride-hailing company Uber originally planned a sizable Oakland expansion into the completed building but stepped away from those plans in March, telling the San Francisco Business Times that only a few hundred Uber employees will move in and that the company will lease the rest of the space.
Although it’s likely none of that has much to do with Thursday’s display. It’s just that a blank canvas of sufficient size will probably never stay blank for long in this town.
This comes on the heels of a similar incident in Washington D.C. where an artist briefly projected anti-Trump messages on the Trump International Hotel.
- Uber Takes Out Permits On Sears Building [Curbed SF]
- Uber Pulls Back In Oakland [SF Business Times]
- Conservatory Lights Up [Curbed SF]
- Trump Hotel becomes canvas for presidential protest art [Curbed DC]
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