News/Research

Revisited: "Reclaim Disrupt" Installation

19 Nov, 2014

Revisited: "Reclaim Disrupt" Installation

On Thursday, November 13, we were thrilled to host the art installation opening for Reclaim Disrupt, a performance project designed and implemented by interdisciplinary artist and activist Leslie Dreyer. To tackle issues surrounding the Bay area housing crisis, Leslie visited demolition sites to collect bricks, which she etched with the stories of those who have faced eviction in the Bay. She then sold these bricks from a vendor cart at Tech Crunch's Disrupt conference in San Francisco on September 10, 2014. Clad in server attire but vending quite unusual fare, she invited passersby to consider other potential meanings of "disrupt." Since the bricks took an hour each for Leslie to make, she chose to sell the bricks at a variable price that shifted based on the purchaser's hourly wages, net wealth, and role in displacement. For example, a minimum wage worker with few assets could buy a brick for $10.74. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, would have had to pay $1.6 million (his estimated hourly wage earnings). Leslie staged Reclaim Disrupt once again at Plaza 16's No Monster in the Mission march and festival for affordable housing. Unlike at Tech Crunch, more than half the bricks sold in this context as the audience were personally moved by their own experiences being reproduced in art. A portion of Leslie's profits go towards affordable housing the Bay area. At the BCNM installation, you can see the bricks Leslie sells, along with the cart, and a video of the conversations she had at Tech Crunch's Disrupt and the No Monster in the Mission march.

Check out photos from the opening below!