Landlord removes billboard in East Liberty

Objections to content of artist message cited

Jon Rubin once referred to the billboard art project he founded above a building on a corner in East Liberty as “almost a speech bubble for the building.”

In controversial fashion, that speech bubble seems to have burst.

The billboard’s most recent installation, which read, “There Are Black People in the Future,” was by artist Alisha Wormsley. It was taken down “over objections to the content” by the building’s landlord, We Do Property, according to a public statement from Mr. Rubin, an associate professor in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.

A Facebook post by Ms. Wormsley quoting Mr. Rubin’s statement has been shared nearly 500 times.

The landlord used a “neverevoked clause in the lease that gives the landlord the right to approve text,” said Mr. Rubin, declining to comment beyond the public statement.

We Do Property is owned by Eve Picker, who has spearheaded several high-profile projects, such as the nonprofit CityLab, which built a tiny house in Garfield, and Small Change, a real estate crowdfunding platform. She has also taught at CMU. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

The billboard art project, which Mr. Rubin calls The Last Billboard, began in 2010 displaying snippets of conversation from “The Waffle Shop,” a waffle shop and live talk show that Mr. Rubin created in the

building below. Mr. Rubin, who specializes in contextual art, also was a cofounder of Conflict Kitchen, which used space in the building below the billboard.

The Last Billboard has since morphed to a rotating monthly installation by invited artists.

Ms. Wormsley is a longtime Pittsburgh artist who won the Mayor’s Award for Public Art in 2016.

Her recent work, “The People Are the Light” was profiled in Carnegie Magazine. Her project, “There Are Black People in the Future,” arose from a stay at the Homewood Artist Residency supported by the Andy Warhol Museum.

Ms. Wormsley did not respond to requests for comment.

The controversy over the billboard is particularly relevant given its location, at the corner of Highland Avenue and Baum Boulevard, Mr. Rubin said in his public statement.

“I believe in the power, poetry, and relevance of Alisha’s text and see absolutely no reason it should have been taken down,” he said. “I find it tragically ironic, given East Liberty’s history and recent gentrification, that a text by an African American artist affirming a place in the future for black people is seen as unacceptable in the present.”

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty will host a public discussion about the matter at 4 p.m. April 18.