Shia LaBeouf Gets on an Elevator and Stays There for Latest Art Project

Raechal Shewfelt
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
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Shia LaBeouf’s latest art project takes place in an elevator. (Photo: YouTube)

Artiste Shia LaBeouf — best known for starring in the blockbuster Transformers franchise — has added a new project to his portfolio: #ELEVATE.

#ELEVATE is brought to us by the same team of artists responsible for Shia wearing a paper bag that read “I am not famous anymore” over his head at the Berlin premiere of his movie Nymphomaniac in 2014, followed by the “#IAMSORRY” project that featured Shia sitting silently in an L.A. art gallery with another paper bag over his head.

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The actor rocked a sack on his head at a movie premiere. (Photo: Getty Images)

This time, artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner helped the former child star craft the idea of staying confined to an elevator at Oxford University in England for 24 hours after boarding it Friday morning. LaBeouf then chatted with his collaborators, university students, and anyone who stopped by about finding personal fulfillment, philosophy, and subjects as light as making candles and eating Pop-Tarts. The whole thing had the vibe of a celebrity meet and greet, although it was intended to provide a soapbox giving equal weight to all voices.

While it wasn’t exactly exciting, the entire event was live streamed. The video showed the closed elevator doors much of the time as the audio played. When the doors opened, people exchanged handshakes and took lots of selfies with LaBeouf.

He planned to leave the elevator long enough to deliver a speech before the Oxford Union debating society. The president of the group invited the actor to appear before them after seeing some of LaBeouf’s earlier performance art.

Related: What Really Happens Inside Shia LeBeouf’s Art Exhibit?

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LaBeouf ran a marathon in the name of art. (Photo: Splash News)

Over the last two years, LaBeouf and co. created the paper bag project, as well as a handful of others that entailed a screening of all the star’s movies at NYC’s Angelika Film Center and asking hundreds of strangers over the phone, “Can you touch my soul?” He also sported purple leggings while running around Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum 144 times (more than 26 miles) during his #METAMARATHON stunt.

James Franco has got nothing on this guy.