A notorious group of anti-Trump artists have pulled off a heist-style installation — involving live rats and a President Trump impersonator in golden handcuffs — in a Trump hotel in New York.
The group Indecline — which was responsible for the infamous naked Trump statues and turning the president’s Westchester golf course into “Trump Cemetery” — checked into a one-bedroom suite at the Trump International hotel at around 4 p.m. on Thursday and smuggled in suitcases filled with props and materials.
A member of the organization told Page Six that they “Trojan-horsed [their] way in” at the glitzy 59th Street hotel and that the “bellhops were happy to help” bring the baggage stuffed with art-contraband up to the room.
The group of seven artists then “dismantled everything,” taking apart furniture and taking objects off the walls, then stashing it all in the bedroom.
Then they set about hanging temporary wallpaper to make the walls appear like cracked concrete and erected a 5-feet-by-8-feet jail cell, in which they scattered McDonald’s wrappers and released live rats.
The group tells us they worked overnight, sleeping just two or three hours.
One said that they believed that if they had been caught, “I’m sure police would be here and arrests would be made. There’s no irreparable damage, but they place is unrecognizable.”
The source said that because they paid for the room and they left everything as they found it, no laws had been broken. “The big question is the rats,” said one, “They’re not emotional support rats. I’m sure it’s a health code violation, but I’m not sure what kind.”
We’re told that they had had no “scares” with unexpected housekeeping visits or other unwanted interruptions.
A group member told us, “The fun part is that when they do see what happened [in the press], they’re going to come rushing up here and find a totally normal room.”
They even held a short exhibition for a select group of press from 7 until 10 p.m. on Friday night, during which a Trump impersonator sat in the cell wearing golden handcuffs.
Another part of the installation — set up in the entryway — featured 13 works based on the American flag, but showing “revolutionary” figures including the journalist Hunter S. Thompson, activist Angela Davis, philosopher Noam Chomsky, Muhammad Ali, Edward Snowden and the historian Howard Zinn.
A group member told us the project was designed to “celebrate the United States’ history of activism and protest.”
“We’re going through turbulent times, specifically because of Donald Trump, who we consider to be the embodiment of every single unethical, arrogant American attitude that there is.”
They added that the flags — which have each been created by different artists — feature “people who inspire us to continue the fight in this era.”
They added that the group had committed itself to providing “checks and balances” for the Trump administration and had tried to be a constant shadow to him, having installed the grotesque naked sculptures in five US cities — including New York — in 2016 and “hitting” his Trump National Golf Club in January 2018 with the “Trump Cemetery” project.
The group said that they had provided a real ID and credit card when checking in and hoped to avoid getting in trouble now that they’ve left by returning the room to such pristine condition that the hotel may not even be able to tell which room had been used for the project.
They said they worked overnight to repair the room and left as soon as they had packed up, checking out around 6am Saturday.
They’ll replicate the installation at Gallery 30 in Pasadena, California, in April. They plan to sell the flags, with proceeds going to organizations including the the Native American Rights Fund and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The People’s Prison from Indecline on Vimeo.