Wes Janz-Pinned Down: The Locking Up of America

The number of sites of incarceration—where people are “pinned
down”—is big as well. It makes sense, right? We need a lot of
buildings and cells in which to lock up all these folks.
Federal prisons. State prisons. County jails. City jails. Local lockups.

Juvenile detention centers. Secure juvenile residential facilities.
University police holding cells. Tribal prisons and jails. Military
detention facilities. ICE sites. Forestry camps. Airport holding cells.

Join us March 6th for the opening of Wes Janz- Pinned Down: The Locking Up of America

Many of us are unaware of the scope of this industry even as we
don’t know of caging sites that are close by. “Pinned Down,” through the use of state maps and pushpins, evidences the geography of incarceration that blankets the nation. Included alongside the maps are issues central to our imprisoning culture, and pieces from the artist’s earlier “Crazy for Cages” show.

The documentary “Digging the Suez Canal with a Teaspoon: Social Design in the 21st Century” will also be shown (as produced by Eric Limarenko and David Stairs in 2019,
Wes is the first of eleven voices from the U.S., South Africa, Great Britain, and India).

Too often we are, as Cornel West has stated, “well adjusted to
injustice.” It is my hope that this installation will contribute to our much-needed re-adjustment.

About Janz

Wes Janz, PhD, was a professor of architecture at Ball State University for twenty-two years (1995-2017). Among the highlights: ten years as graduate program director; primary author of undergraduate minor and graduate certificate programs in social and environmental justice; and sole recipient of the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2006.

In 2008 he was a winner of the inaugural Curry Stone Design Prize, as awarded to breakthrough international projects that “engage communities at the fulcrum of change, raising awareness, empowering individuals and fostering collective revitalization.”

The National Endowment for the Arts, along with the Graham, Ruth Mott, Fulbright-Hays, and Efroymson Foundations, among others, supported his research and design efforts; and the Venice Biennale and university galleries throughout the Midwest featured Wes’s work.  Janz has traveled, listened, and lectured on six continents.