Anastasiya Bachmanova

Poetry Bombing

Paper and tape

Spring 2012

    The art intervention that I chose to carry out is a “poetry bombing”. The idea was to print out short poems and quotes on small pieces of paper, and tape them up where people might stumble upon them- in bathrooms, on walls, and other publicly used spaces. This project was done on campus mostly, and in a couple of other spaces around Monterey.
    My hope for this project is to inspire individuals to feel empowered to make a change, whether with their own outlook on life or for social issues affecting others. I included a variety of quotes for a wide impact. For example, a few might refer to feminism, some speak positivity, and others are directed towards international issues. The point is to show that one person can make a difference, even with as simple an act as a contagious smile. In a university people are often bogged down with stress, so this is a little way of reminding them of the little things that are great and that everyone is responsible for their own happiness.
    The nature of this work is minimalistic and ephemeral. The printed quotes are small and hidden so they are really meant to be a surprise. Eventually these quotes will be gone, whether people remove them or the cleaning brigade removes them. As soon as they are noticed, however, curiosity should strike for them to read it. It is non-invasive, yet interactive when people find these messages, almost like the fortunes in fortune cookies. In the same way they are acknowledged, remembered if they speak, and then thrown away. It would be interesting to continue the project, expanding on the poems as well as the audience, to see if it has any effect on the community.

Walking a mile in another persons shoes is a saying that we should all be familiar with, but is very rarely practiced.   The proverb’s meaning is essentially; get to know or understand a person before you criticize them and my intervention is based on this meaning.  A friend and I documented our walk in each others shoes.

Video

Jorge Amezcua

Name: Thelma Riley

Title: AIDS Intervention

Medium: video

Year: Spring 2012

Project description:The propose of this intervention was to bring light Aids and getting students to talk about the issue and the increasing number of people contracting this disease.  I wanted students to think about their friends, their actions and what can be done to prevent themselves from getting a STD  and or AIDS. Bring light to a college students arrogance towards this subject matter and over all starting a conversation on this topic.

(Source: youtube.com)

Water Wasted, Becca Hoffman

Paper

Mirrors

Window Crayons

Spring 2012

For my Art Intervention, I wanted to bring more attention to the amount of water that is wasted each day.  Most people like to think they are being efficient, but there are many ways in which people waste water, and might not even realize it.  One of the obvious water wasters is when people leave the sink faucet on while brushing their teeth.  I found that someone can waste up to 3 gallons of water while brushing their teeth, and this truly shocked me.  There are also things around the house that people can abuse in regards to conserving or wasting water.  Dish washers and washing machines should only be used if they are cleaning a full load, other wise you are wasting the water that is being used to clean the half full loads.  

For my intervention, I wanted to bring attention to some of the easy, yet often forgotten, ways of conserving water.  I wrote on some bathroom mirrors leaving statistics about wasting water while brushing and how many gallons of water the average American uses per day.  My hopes were to leave the stats in the persons face, forcing them to read them and be conscious of their water consumption.  

I also left signs over a sink, in the dish washer and in the laundry room.  My goals were to get people thinking about what they were about to do.  Do they have a full load of clothes to put in the washing machine, or are they trying to clean just a few shirts?  Can they make a conscious decision to conserve?  

Cecilia Alvarado

The Sign of Something Better Coming

rainbow ribbon, scissors

2012

In the Catholic faith, the rainbow symbolizes the covenant between God and the people, saying that He will never punish the earth in that way, and it also symbolizes God’s mercy. My intention was to make people think about the symbolism of the rainbow, and to also provide anyone who may be having a hard time in their life that there is something better around the corner: “… you can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain.”

Joey Cloud

You can shine

Paper, spray paint, paint

For my project, I placed a large sun in an area viewable to students. I got the idea from my understanding of how weather often affects our mood. There is usually an abundance of fog or clouds overhanging the campus, and this usually results in a bitter feeling among most of the students. I thought I’d intervene by putting a sun where everyone could see it that would always be there regardless of the weather. My intention is for people to see my painting and feel uplifted in some way and maybe realize no matter how bad things may seem, the sun will come up again

Warren Freeman

Vodka vs. Muscle Milk

Printer paper

2012

For my project, I choose an issue that is very relevant to those that try to find the balance between working out and consuming alcohol. I wanted my art intervention to point out how much drinking alcohol effects your workouts. Regardless of if you’re a serious athlete, bodybuilder, interested in maintaining your figure, or just burning a few calories, drinking effects your workouts. To convey this message, I posted facts about alcohol affecting your workout around the Otter Sports Center.  It is common that people drink on weekends and return to their workout routines Monday, expecting to get the same results they would if they didn’t drink. By posting these facts throughout the gym, I hope to spark conversation, debate and change.

Nalini Persaud
Medium: Performance
Materials: Questions from http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

I got this idea from television and internet shows such as, Are you smarter than a fifth grader, California On, and Jay Leno. I basically waited in the lobby of the building I live in and asked those passing through to answer questions off of the California state standards list. The project was supposed to highlight some of the issues with our existing standards for students. This intervention, without a doubt inspired debate and catalyzed social exchange. The most common response I got from interviewees was something along the lines of, “Wow, I’m so dumb.” But others did not think it was necessary to know such information because it did not relate to future professions. In my opinion, there are so many questions that can be asked about education, society, and our youth after looking at the results. Are students not learning what they are supposed to? Are the “standards” themselves not up to date or irrelevant in the first place? Is it actually necessary to know anything when an infinite source of information is resting in our pockets?

Claudia Mejia

Voice

Materials: Tape

Year: 2012

Project #1: Art Intervention

People like to think that we all have a voice, that we all have the right to stand up and speak up, but the truth is that that isn’t so. Minorities everywhere are underrepresented and their voices are hidden from the rest of the world: gender minorities, racial minorities, sexual minorities, etc. People are silenced and others who notice do nothing about it. So, giving this idea a more literal image, I put duct tape on my mouth, literally silencing myself and went around the town like that. The first place being my sister’s bus stop where children came up to me and asked about the tape. One little girl told me to that it was dumb, “porque si no puedes hablar, no te van a oir (if you can’t talk, no one’s going to hear you).” A man and a woman at the Salinas Transit Center discussed how they felt immigrants were being pushed aside and ignored. A man in front of McDonalds told me that “your place is wherever you feel secure” and if you don’t have a voice, finding that place would be much harder. People at the Northridge Mall didn’t come up to me as easily, but they pointed and stared. Some teenage girls whispered and wondered about the tape. A little girl told me I had tape on my face, right before her dad came, smiled questioningly, and then walked away.

Mattie Krall and Xavier Bellante

Materials: Mat Board, Razor Blade, Logo, 4 excited individuals

Art Intervention #1

Welcome to the intervention.

Your journey begins with a subtle alteration of your mind. Xavier’s website and brand identity are all Serrated Banana. The concept behind Serrated Banana is that boundaries and rules are limitations to art and to enlightenment. Our thought processes are usually routine. It takes something novel and unique to stimulate the brain and allow for new connections to form. Serrated Banana, two words that would never be tied together under any normal circumstances. You read them and you can’t help but be curious. Even if you don’t go any further with your investigation, your brain took a moment to step out of it’s typical activity.

There’s been a logo for some time now, but it’s never been made public. Xavier’s original idea was to take the stencil and “intervene” himself, but Mattie had a better idea. Her idea for this project was to take that logo and disperse it in an almost viral fashion and have 4 individuals unrelated to Xavier’s website and work chosen to participate. They are friends, but their anonymity was guaranteed by the project. They were each given two copies of a stencil of the Serrated Banana. Their only instruction, do whatever you want with them. Destroy them, use them, distribute them for others to use, whatever.

5 days later the “treasure hunt” began. Xavier brought his own copy of the stencil and Mattie brought her camera. We started searching the campus and the Ord for evidence of the project. And we found a good amount. Xavier performed his own impromptu intervention with a piece in the beach tunnel. But the best part was finding that the participants had actually used the stencils, or at least given them to someone who had used them.

This project is ongoing. None of the stencils were required to be returned and none of them have been. So who knows where the next Serrated Banana might appear. Keep your eyes and mind open…