“TAKE A BULLET FOR THE CITY” by R. Luke Dubois

“Take A Bullet for The City” is an art installation that renders the issue of gun violence in New Orleans. As part of the “Guns In The Hand Of Artists” exhibition, R. Luke DuBois brings hard data into a visceral realm. Pronounced by town criers in the middle ages: “Three O’clock And All Is Well” is the original form of open data available for city-dwellers to assure them safety in their streets. The artist, who’s also a full-time professor at NYU-Poly, redefines data analytics and visualization through this iteration after programming a Walker PPK 9mm to fire a blank every time a shooting is reported in the city. This art installation is proof-of-concept that although it may be “three o’clock” in New Orleans, but “all is not well”. It commemorates the number of shootings that were reported by the public a week and twelve hours ago in time, as scheduled, to the New Orleans Police Department. Spectators visiting the Jonathan Ferrara gallery will be able to “experience” the reported shootings or view a day’s worth of spent cartridge accumulated into the vitrine. This art installation exemplifies a profound way of bringing attention to urban issues that commonly occur and may be quickly forgotten. This also sparked my interest in the endless possibilities of finding creative and practical solutions when involving local innovation and a broad spectrum of stakeholders in viewing urban problems.