Organized by artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, “Banned Pending Investigation” is a community-based artwork that addresses the alarming rise of book bans in the U.S. The project takes place in Florida, which has the highest number of book bans and has removed 4,500 books from schools between the 2023-2024 school year. In collaboration with the Books & Books Literary Foundation, the artists will construct a wall of currently and historically banned books. Opening on the first day of Banned Book Week in October, Wright and Millares will build the wall in the Books and Books Book Store in Coral Gables, Florida.
On the last day of Banned Book Week, October 5-11, 2025, local high school students, who are most vulnerable to book bans, will run through the wall and knock them down. The audience is then invited to take a banned book. By tearing down walls of books with our bodies, we physically and metaphorically tackle the societal and bureaucratic barriers that continuously devalue the arts and education in our society.
