For the past couple weeks, a slide show projection on the Anna Head West student housing project currently under construction has drawn attention with its “Occupy the Wall (across the) Street” message.
UC Berkeley Labor Center staff members first projected a slide show containing charts, data, quotes and more information about income inequality in America onto the complex from the third story window of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employmentbuilding on the evening of Dec. 8.As of now, the center staff members plan to project the slide show each Thursday night, according to Rebecca Graham, communications specialist at the center.
“I think this was just a fun way for us to present … the data that support this ever-widening income and inequality and wealth gap that we have in the U.S.,” said Sylvia Allegretto, a research economist at the institute who helped contribute to the presentation.
The center also used information compiled by Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington D.C. and former chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden. Bernstein attended the Dec. 8 launch of the projection.
“It’s very important to inform this debate that we’re having with factual information, and if you can do it in a way that’s fun and interesting, all the better,” Bernstein said.
The project is currently possible because the scaffolded building is covered in white plastic, creating a large blank surface onto which the slides are projected.
The Capital Projects office, which oversees campus construction projects, currently has no issue with the projection and thinks it is fun and creative, according to Christine Shaff, communications director for facilities services.