Bread & Circuses (Revival)
Lincoln Financial Field, South Philadelphia, December 2014
Bread & Circuses (Revival): A Fleeting Art Installation was a temporary site-specific project in the sky over South Philadelphia on Sunday, December 7, 2014, at 3:30pm. Hired and coordinated by Sarah Peoples, an airplane flew over Lincoln Financial Field before a Philadelphia Eagles home game, dragging a large banner with red letters reading "BREAD & CIRCUSES". In the parking lot during pre-game tailgating, circus performers entertained fans, and Peoples passed out loaves of bread.
The Bread & Circuses project began in 2011 as a proposal to tie 2,800 white, helium-filled balloons to the seats of the Eagles’ stadium at Lincoln Financial Field. In this earlier iteration, the balloons would spell out "BREAD & CIRCUSES" - a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal as a satirical assessment of the Roman government’s use of cheap food and entertainment as a means of distraction. In November 2011, Peoples raised $2,847 on Kickstarter after gaining permission from the COO of the Eagles and began promoting the project.
The Bread & Circuses project began in 2011 as a proposal to tie 2,800 white, helium-filled balloons to the seats of the Eagles’ stadium at Lincoln Financial Field. In this earlier iteration, the balloons would spell out "BREAD & CIRCUSES" - a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal as a satirical assessment of the Roman government’s use of cheap food and entertainment as a means of distraction. In November 2011, Peoples raised $2,847 on Kickstarter after gaining permission from the COO of the Eagles and began promoting the project.
"BREAD & CIRCUSES" - a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal as a satirical assessment of the Roman government’s use of cheap food and entertainment as a means of distraction
Drawing attention on websites, blogs and Twitter, writers and commentators had varying interpretations of the project and the term "Bread & Circuses". Concerned about the potentially negative connotations, the Eagles canceled the giant work of art in mid-November 2011, just days before the installation was scheduled to take place. Peoples notes the piece was never specifically about the Eagles and/or the NFL. It was not intended as a judgment about either entity and was only tangentially about the sport of football.
In 2014, in light of class action lawsuits from ex-players over head injuries, clumsy backpedaling from the mishandled punishment of various high profile domestic abuse cases, the DEA's surprise inspections of team’s medical staffs, and more, Peoples decided to revive the project. “I’m not into revenge art as a genre,” Peoples remarked, smiling, “because I am not even sure if that exists, and moreover I like to believe that at least sometimes art making is a far more noble calling.”
So on Sunday, December 7, 2014 in the sky over South Philadelphia, an airplane dragged a large banner with red letters reading "BREAD & CIRCUSES" over the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field during pre-game tailgating. Circus performers entertained fans, and Peoples passed out loaves of bread to complete the second iteration of the project, Bread & Circuses (Revival): A Fleeting Art Installation.
In 2014, in light of class action lawsuits from ex-players over head injuries, clumsy backpedaling from the mishandled punishment of various high profile domestic abuse cases, the DEA's surprise inspections of team’s medical staffs, and more, Peoples decided to revive the project. “I’m not into revenge art as a genre,” Peoples remarked, smiling, “because I am not even sure if that exists, and moreover I like to believe that at least sometimes art making is a far more noble calling.”
So on Sunday, December 7, 2014 in the sky over South Philadelphia, an airplane dragged a large banner with red letters reading "BREAD & CIRCUSES" over the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field during pre-game tailgating. Circus performers entertained fans, and Peoples passed out loaves of bread to complete the second iteration of the project, Bread & Circuses (Revival): A Fleeting Art Installation.