The D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department has deemed a controversial city-funded art installation on Good Hope Road SE in Anacostia a fire hazard and requested that it be removed by Friday.

“The New Migration,” part of the citywide 5×5 Project, has already ridden a seesaw of approvals and rejections. Neighbors objected to the installation, which displays old tires, fake human limbs, and other detritus as an expression of the toll of gentrification and displacement, for adding “junk” to a neighborhood already plagued by vacancy and working to bring in more retail and business, and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities announced last month it would remove it. A week later, the commission changed its mind and said the exhibit would remain. 

Now, it looks like the Commission will have no choice but to remove it. DCFEMS spokesman Timothy Wilson confirms that the agency performed an inspection and decided that the entire exhibit constitutes a hazard and needs to be removed by Friday.

An arts commission spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery