Old Town rooftop menace?

FRIDAY, OCT. 10 – Old Town is under surveillance.

Perched atop a Turner Street building are silhouetted figures that could cause your heart to stop for a second. One appears to have binoculars; the other, a rifle.

But they are just art, not a menace. The silhouette cutouts are extras from the 2014 ArtPrize exhibit, “There’s Something Happening Here” from Grand Rapids, by artist Henry Brimmer.

Inspired by the increasing bombardment of the military, Brimmer wanted to surprise people by creating a number of silhouetted military statues and mounting them on top of buildings. Brimmer is an advertising and public relations professor at Michigan State University.

Brimmer created more figures than needed for the ArtPrize entry and decided to share his extra statues with the Lansing community. His entry was honored on the jurors’ shortlist. He will dismantle his Grand Rapids piece Sunday.

Two figures were mounted this afternoon on top of 1213 Turner St. and four to six more will be mounted on 1215 Turner St., 1210 Turner St. and on the tallest building in between 201 and 206 Grand River Ave.

Grant Guimond, who has helped Brimmer with his ArtPrize projects for four years, said the piece has received a wide range of opinions.

“The amount of attention it called from the community was very rewarding,” he said. “These projects in the past four years have involved many people.”

Three of Brimmer’s ArtPrize entries, including this year’s, have been outdoor displays. His 2012 and 2013 pieces hung above intersections.

“It’s fun to tackle projects that are unusual,” he said.

Brimmer and Guimond are excited to see what Lansing thinks of his piece.