F.E.E.R. – Alert #2

In March of 2025, Cadillac (a property of General Motors) sponsored a performance titled DOOM: House of Hope at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. The manufacturer stocked the Armory with 26 Cadillac Escalades.

The internal combustion Escalade model dominated the hall in which the dance and theater piece was staged. A small share of electric exemplars were stored in the recesses of the showroom. Positioned on the gasoline-burning merchandise, a cast of young models and actors were hired to chant: we’re doomed, we’re fucked, we’re dead.

On the night of the March 12 performance at 9:00PM, a woman from the audience shackled herself to the exhaust pipe of one of the Cadillacs with a lock and chain. The woman wore a T-shirt reading

NEVER COLLABORATE, SAVE LIFE

on one side, and

FUCK GENERAL MOTORS

on the other. Members of the audience assembled around her body. The Park Avenue Armory summoned the police, and the woman was escorted out of the showroom.

In May of 2025, General Motors began to lobby against emissions standards. An internal email to its salaried employees stated that ‘emissions standards that are not aligned with market realities pose a serious threat to our business…’

On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, General Motors abandoned its pledge for an all-electric Cadillac fleet. Its CEO announced: ‘Starting next spring and continuing into 2028, we will begin launching the next generation of Cadillac ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles.’

On March 11, 2025, at 11:04PM, the author of the March 12 protest action had written,

I’ve been ambivalent about the protest, but then realized this project is in part intended as a testing of the temperature by GM. Half of the 26 cars in the performance are gasoline powered. They want to see if they can get away with it.

At 9:51PM of March 12, she wrote:

I did the protest. I was playing chicken with myself and saw it as a test of courage.