Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 2: Place

S. Natasha Mercado
4/09/2014
Art 308 Intention Statement/Place

            For our site specific project I decided to use language to conceptually deconstruct the meaning of Montgomery Hall. I started by walking around campus paying close attention to the architecture and the context of each building. What did each building mean to me? Was the architecture itself changed by its surrounding? The reason I chose to concentrate on Montgomery Hall was because I felt closest to it, it was the home of my major and where I spent most of my college career. I knew every corner of this building and by deconstructing its meaning I took something dear from the students as well as from myself. This piece was mainly influenced by Gordon Matta-Clark who worked with the idea of deconstruction and anarchitecture. He basically went and created art out of deconstructing from already demolished buildings. Although I did not physically take away from Montgomery Hall I dissected the meaning of the arts conceptually.

            The arts are usually less financially stable than the sciences and that is because society has chosen to give more value to the sciences, specifically the physical sciences, because of their role in society. The physical sciences are usually in charge of creating cures, medicine, and protecting the health of the people. Our school also receives a lot more funding for the science departments than the arts and so I thought I could further demonstrate how this more appreciated field, the sciences, easily stepped over the arts not only in academia but in job related and financial matters. I custom-made and ordered two signs with two posters that signified the devalue and degradation of the arts. I had two signs measuring 18 x 22 inches where one sign read “Montgomery Hall SOLD” in big red letters and the other stated “Private Property of the Sciences”. The small posters I ordered read “Private property. No artists, musicians, and writers. Violators will be Prosecuted” in red and black letters. I wanted the signs to look trustworthy but not enough to cause a riot. I then placed both signs on the front of the entrance to Montgomery Hall beside the path and put up the small posters on the main door.

            I placed the two main signs in the front of the doors besides the main path to the campus center because I wanted it to be visible to the campus community. I wanted to get a reaction from the public to the selling of the building and the hierarchy difference between art and the sciences. The art, music, and English students on campus strictly know that other departments receive more money than they do. And when it comes to the preservation or building of the school, the arts are the first to get its budget cut. Some science students argue that the music department receives the majority budget and not them. Seeing the signs might have given them a kick, whereas the artists or musicians might have felt threatened and uneasy with such use of language (especially the red big SOLD letters).

            The piece not only questions the empowerment of other academic department over the arts but it also questions the way society treats those who have studied a career within the sciences. My piece is site specific as it refers to the meaning and category behind Montgomery Hall (the building of the arts) as well as all of the students and classes taught within it. I do not think it was necessary to add the small posters on the wall. The SOLD sign might have been enough to provoke the viewer instead of adding the private property sign that belonged to the scientist. Something I could have changed is the “Private Property of the Sciences” sign. If I would have kept that sign out of the piece then the viewer would have had an opportunity to make their own judgments on the culprit and on the trustworthiness of the piece.