Museum ends Shia LaBeouf art project, citing safety concerns

New York City's Museum of the Moving Image has closed a performance art project involving Shia LaBeouf, citing "serious public safety hazards."

The project He will not divide ushad the actor and others chanting the phrase in front of a live streaming camera since Donald Trump's first day as president three weeks ago.

He and two collaborators had said they intended to do it around the clock for four years.

The museum said Friday that the installation outside the museum had become "aflashpointfor violence and was disrupted from its original intent."

• Shia LaBeouf arrested after He Will Not Divide Us participatory art scuffle

Since opening, the installation "there havebeen dozens of threats of violence and numerous arrests, such that policefelt compelled to be stationed outsidethe installation 24 hours a day, seven days a week," the museum statement said.

It addedthat the piece had created "a serious and ongoing public safety hazard for the museum, its visitors, staff, local residents and businesses."

Still, the museum concluded that it was "proud to have launched this engaging and thought-provoking digital artinstallation, which was experienced by millions of online viewers worldwide. Until publicsafety concerns overrode the intentof the installation, He Will Not Divide Us generated an important conversation allowing interaction among people from many backgrounds and with different viewpoints."

LaBeouf was arrested last month after an altercation.

The project's website said the museum had "abandoned the project." It added: "The artists, however, have not."