We Will Never Pay Off Our Loans…

As the eviction of the Zuccotti Park encampment was underway, our team went to work to create a selection of tools that could be used to help Occupiers establish an encampment at a new location. Rapid Response Project #2: We designed and fabricated shields made of triple-wall cardboard that doubled as signs. They served the practical purpose of defending physical space and simultaneously expressed several of the concerns raised by the Occupy movement. As shields they demarcate a physical line. They organize individuals holding them to appear as a collectivity and an expression of a barrier that is at once protective and simultaneously powerful. This duality is reflected in the message printed on the shields. “We will never pay back our loans” is at once a lament and an affirmation.