Art Critique - February 4th, 2011

This week it was my turn to show work that I've been doing, and I decided to show a sound piece I worked on last semester because it directly corresponds to the work I'm thinking of doing for my thesis. The sound piece used different samples of individuals speaking, including singer/actress Jill Scott. I recorded part of an interview that she did with a prominent news team and added it to a musical accompaniment I created in GarageBand. I also used recordings from conversations had between some of my friends regarding people of different classes/racial groups. I secretly recorded these conversations knowing that they would be altered or never spoken out loud if I told them. Additionally, I recorded some of my friends reading the infamous "Crime Alert" emails that the Rutgers Police Department sends out to students and faculty. Without manipulation, these notices sounded almost exactly alike, because the description was extremely similar every time --- Black male, wearing a hoodie, etc, which is something that I've always noticed and something that has always bothered me.

Upon playing this track for the class, all of my peers enjoyed listening to it and felt it was successful. They focused on what was being said and eventually got into a dialogue about what it meant, and what I was trying to say with my piece. They understood that with this information I was trying to spur conversation about this issue, and why it exists in the first place. Meghan especially liked how I related the concept to Rutgers directly. Originally for my project, I was thinking of doing a more over all view of race relations in America, and hadn't thought about narrowing it down to Rutgers. I thought it was interesting how she explained the idea of individuals being molded during their college years and basically being educated to fear these types of people. College is meant to prepare you for the "real world" and the rest of your life, but should part of that education be to place a further rift between different races by sending these messages?  I feel it is an interesting idea being that it is where the audience will be and it is essentially their backyard. However, I want everyone who views my piece to relate to it, or become interested in talking about it. Not everyone who sees it will be from New Brunswick, or attend Rutgers. I do not want to limit myself, but also, I do not want to overextend myself either.

I will continue to think about these topics as well as different suggestions given to me by the other artists in my group.