The Roof Is On Fire: Art Analysis

Many artists use the public space to engage with social and political issues as it allows their community to get involved but also gives people a voice. In order to answer the question of how these artists use the public space to engage with such issues, I will discuss the art project, ‘The Roof Is on Fire’, by Suzanne Lacey, Annie Jacoby and Chris Johnson, which proceeded from 1993 to 1994.Within this project, teens from Oakland, USA sat in cars on top of a parking lot whilst they talked about social and political issues they identified with and felt they could debate. In the following paragraphs, I will present several aspects of the project, such as who is represented and how, whether the art work is one artist or a collective, what the art form of the project is and whether the artists managed to respond to a social or a political issue effectively.
As said by Lueckessia spencer it’s about ‘self-expression and having a voice’ and they were given this voice through the topics that the teens themselves decided were worth talking about. The audience could only listen and watch, not interfere. This meant they could express themselves in any way they wanted and not be criticized for it. The scheme was initially organized to give the adolescents the opportunity to illustrate themselves accurately, not with the stereotypes set by society and the media. If young people like these are exposed to activities along the lines of robbery, drugs, or violence then it is very likely they will start to behave in the way that they are shown to behave by films or the newspaper as well as other