CORE 1130: Collaboration Studio | Protest

Protest - Artist Statement



The Pod is not providing well for the students because prices are high and not affordable on a college budget. To protest this, we presented DIY demos where students came to learn how to make their own food/household items to help them compensate for unaffordable prices in the Pod. We prepared microwave meals and presented DIY tutorials on how to repurpose the things students already have. Additionally, we presented students with the informative tools to get connected for carpooling, bus schedules and other methods of transportation.

The body is present in the audience--the students-- who are the main participants. They watched the objects be made, were offered samples, had the option to participate, and learned the information.

The space was the second floor lobby of Schottenstein, right in the living quarters of the students most affected by the Pod and where the students are most familiar with. We were faced with obstacles on location when resident life preferred that we hold our presentation in the Crane game room, but we decided we would have a significantly smaller turnout and the location didn’t make as much sense conceptually since our target audience all reside in Schottenstein.

The objects are the DIY projects and the information we are giving  out to the students. These objects are encompassing, as we gave the food out to all of the students present. The objects are tangible, and active when items are being created or prepared. The dishes we made were a marinated steak and potato chips (all prepared using only a microwave and acceptable tools for our dorm rooms) and we also demonstrated DIY conditioner and hand soap.

The action is the creating process of respective DIY projects. It is active, and scripted in the instructions for the items since we already knew what we would say and do and when we would.This interaction instigates a change in the object since the DIY objects are being created in the activity.

Theme 2 | Response Statement

Our final product was much less identifiable as an art piece and much more an actual protest. We picked an issue which impacts a large majority of students living on campus- The Pod- and protested it’s high prices. We had an event where we informed fellow students about the issue and of ways to solve the problem on an individual basis and have had a small impact. 

The success of our project showed me that student age kids are more likely to interact and engage with a topic that is about an issue close to them and where they have the choice to sit back and listen or approach the table and participate. Either way it’s an interaction and the audience learns both ways. 

I expected a good turnout since the event was located in a close and easily accessible area- the students didn’t even have to leave the buildings, in fact much of our audience were simply passing through when they decided to stop. I expected the audience to enjoy eating free food. However I didn’t expect that some audience members wanted to come try to make it themselves and have a hands on experience. This pushed the interaction between artist, object, and audience to a new level which was very nice. There was also a lot of kids who openly approached the poster which surprised and delighted me because I didn’t expect them to pay it much mind. I expected to have to read it to the audience but instead there was a crowd around it.

I was very happy with our project and the only thing I would change if I were to do it again is increase the scale- make more posters, gather more information, show more demos, draw a larger crowd, and have it last longer. So many people were interested and genuinely impacted by our project and that made the experience much more thrilling and satisfying.