Late last semester, "Down with Whitey" or "White on White," a performance piece organized by myself, took place in the Center for the Arts atrium and was commented on by The Spectrum, in both article and editorial form. The following is a synopsis of the project, which I feel addresses certain misconceptions about the intentions behind the piece. Following the synopsis I have appended a "collective utterance" which reflects a broad consensus of opinion within the student body of the Art Department, and which demonstrates a growing interest in community there.
To begin with, I provided 32 students each with an 18-inch-by-24-inch canvas and asked them to do their "best work." On Monday, Nov. 18, 2002, 32 students displayed their "best works" of art in the atrium of the CFA.
After a given display time, the artists walked back up to their easels; each individual put on a white shirt and painted their best work white. Each person finished painting their best work white and the white shirts came off. Together, the students filed out.
"Down with Whitey" was not "a protest." Rather, it was intended as a catalyst for discussion and debate.
The project involved the university community, specifically the students and staff around the CFA. In involving both the administration and the students, this project promotes mutual understanding in an atmosphere conducive to discussion and debate.
The primary issue this project seeks to address is the potentially stifling environment of the CFA. Situated in a privately owned public events building, the atrium, the hallways and the classrooms are maintained and regulated in a way that discourages a free interaction with the space. The fact that there are corkboards for the display of artwork does little to mitigate the situation and is beside the point in any case.
Though each interpretation of the project is equally valid, viewing it as a destructive act would be somewhat off base. Consider instead the very concept of "best work." Is there even such a thing? Is it possible or even desirable to reach beyond these implied limits of art and if so, how? Ultimately, which is more important, the actual physical presence of a painting or the experience and development of ideas?
As an artist, I can say the environment is very much reflected in the type of artwork produced. The students, in developing their artwork, frequently find it hard to explore spatial concepts within the regulated environment of the CFA. Neither is there a framework in place which cultivates community. This is not to say that the workspace provided insufficient, quite the contrary. The space is fine - it's the human element within it that is lacking.
(Special thanks to members of the CFA staff: Jerry Kegler; Jacqueline Simon; associate director Sandy Fazekas; and other members of the administration for allowing me to follow through with the project. Also, a special thanks to my professor Andrew Johnson and to the 32 art students who participated.)
A Collective Utterance:
As art students at UB we would like to express to the phantom twins (the Ocommunity-at-largeO and the Opowers that beO) the following:
WE SEEK
a viable community environment within the CFA
WE BELIEVE
that actual engagement is the key to both personal and community betterment
that the function of community, by definition, is to enhance commonality and individuality in equal measure
that students, by definition, are citizens of the University community, and that it is in our power to effect change.
WE KNOW
that the Amherst campus was carefully constructed, and is maintained, with logic borrowed from military strategy
that the avowed purpose of this method is to divide, isolate and depoliticize the given population under the guise of providing Oenhanced securityO
that any direct engagement with these established conventions will tend officially to be labeled a Oprotest,O rather than approached as an opportunity
for substantive debate or exchange.
WE DECLINE
to have our voices silenced by bureaucratic default
WE AFFIRM
our right to congregate in, communicate about and to contradict the status quo
WE REITERATE
exhibition space is not our Obone of contentionO
a viable community environment within the CFA is our goal and right.
