PERFORMANCE:
SORRY
(great success today, we are continuing tomorrow, the 5th of July, same time, same place!)
USAD United States Apologies Desk
Public Square adjacent to the Scottish National Gallery
Edinburgh, Scotland
09:00am July 4th & 5th, 2025
On Friday, July 4th, 2025, American-born, Edinburgh-based artist and activist Joseph DeLappe will perform SORRY, a one-day public art intervention in Edinburgh that sees him setting up the USAD (United States Apologies Desk) to engage passers-by in dialogue and to offer his apologies for many of the USA’s failings, on this, America’s Independence Day.
Beginning at 09:00am (BST) at the public square adjacent to the Scottish National Gallery, DeLappe will sit at a small desk adorned with a cotton American flag, altered by hand-sewn woollen letters to read ‘SORRY’. A placard on the desk reads ‘USAD – United States Apologies Desk’, playfully framing the action as an unofficial diplomatic mission. An empty chair opposite DeLappe invites passers-by to sit, talk, and reflect. Each participant will receive a hand-signed apology card, including a personal pledge from DeLappe that he will continue to resist Donald Trump and all forms of fascist ideology through civic and creative engagement.
“This is performance is an act of public atonement.” says DeLappe. “On America’s Independence Day, I want to reclaim the act of speaking plainly, and humbly, as an American. How we can move beyond feelings of helplessness and dread while also extending an invitation to consider what creative resistance to the Trump regime can look like. To make an apology as one American citizen – to highlight all the damage the USA is inflicting upon the world, and to show that Trump’s regime and actions are not condoned by this American, and many millions of my fellow citizens.”
Throughout the day, weather permitting, DeLappe will relocate the USAD to various public locations across Edinburgh’s city centre, engaging the public in unscripted acts of connection, resistance, and atonement.
NEW PUBLICATIONS:
Fotoludica. Fotografia e videogiochi tra arte e documentazione Edited by/A cura di: Matteo Bittanti e Marco De Mutiis co-authored a chapter for this book about photography in videogames with Dr. Laura Leuzzi, “Head Shot! Artefacts of Interventionist Play: Joseph DeLappe’s Extended Screenshots”, this is only available in Italian to date.
Step Into the Fray: Navigating Mixed Realities at the Intersection of Walking, Video Games, Art, and Activism is included in an ASAP Review Journal special volume “The Art of Walking”, edited by Adair Rounthwaite & Judith Rodenbeck has been published this past week.
Me and My Predator(s): Tactical Remembrance and Critical Atonement, co-written with Dr. Laura Leuzzi was published in the book “Drone Aesthetics War, Culture, Ecology” edited by Beryl Pong and Michael Richardson via Open Humanities Press. You can download a free PDF of the book or buy a printed copy at the link.