"Pay Trump bribes here" projected onto Trump Hotel entrance
A message reading "Pay Trump bribes here" was projected onto the facade of the International Trump Hotel at Washington's Old Post Office Tower Monday night for all tourists, hotel visitors and commuters to see.
Filmmaker Robin Bell, the artist responsible for the projection, said he wanted to shine a light on President Trump's conflicts of interest because of his ties to the hotel.
"It went spectacular. It wasn't up for long. It was up for like 10 minutes, but it was great," he said.
Before being asked to stop, Bell cast a series of messages and graphics from a van across the street, including text from the emoluments clause, a provision in the U.S. Constitution that prevents U.S. officials from taking gifts and payments from foreign entities.
He chose to include the clause because Mr. Trump is currently involved in a lawsuit, filed by a liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, for alleged violation of it.
The hotel, which is owned by the Trump Organization, leases Washington's Old Post Office Tower from the General Services Administration, a part of the executive branch overseen by Mr. Trump.
"The main intention with it was to highlight the emoluments clause," Bell said. "It's kind of a tricky word and a concept."
Other texts on the Trump Hotel wall included "emoluments welcome" and "open 24 hours." Bell even managed to project graphics of Turkish and Russian flags.
Mark Reads, an educator at NYU and a member of the Illuminator Art Collective, told CBS News the light installations are a form of public protest mostly tied to progressive movements. They have a history going back to the 1980s when Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko projected the swastika onto the South Africa House in London in protest of Apartheid.
"I think we live in a visual culture, and images actually tend to communicate a story," Reads said. "And a visual strategy is important for movements to have."
In January, Mr. Trump announced a partial divestment in the Trump Organization, leaving ownership to both of his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump.
Some experts on government ethics, however, do not see Trump's January divestment from the organization going far enough to distance himself from possible foreign influence.
This isn't the first time Bell has used projection art to relay political messages about the new administration or other topics such as privacy and climate change.
Bell's work on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's ties to ExxonMobil dawned the walls of the State Department in early January, and his "Polluting Pruitt" projection lit up the face of the EPA building in late November.
