BY NELSON PAVLOSKY

In print | Published November 3, 2005

On Monday I saw artist Jonathan Hyman give a talk about photographs that he had taken of ad-hoc memorials to 9/11. On the screen in the Scheuer room, he projected picture after picture of tiles hung on chain link fences, murals on dirty city walls, a wall of names in emulation of the Vietnam Memorial and many others. This struck me anew with the power of public artworks created by ordinary citizens that speak about common concerns. While our chalkings for Coming Out Week on Swarthmore’s campus may seem trivial and mundane in comparison, they are both important expressions of a need which all people have: to humanize our environment. We tend to take chalkings for granted at Swarthmore, but other colleges have attempted to ban such public artwork or “graffiti.” We could decide as a college to keep the campus shiny, clean and sterile, to avoid controversy or obscenity. Why do we choose to permit it? Why do we allow the unruly collections of signs and posters on the benches in Kohlberg coffee bar or in the Science Center, and why do people complain when the college tries to crack down on them? I think it is because they make the difference between an empty, abandoned institution and a vibrant, living place of learning.

George Lucas pioneered the concept of the “used universe” in science fiction films. Before he made Star Wars, every spaceship depicted in a movie was perfectly clean, without a scratch or a smudge. The ships and streets in Star Wars were different. They showed evidence of human activity, of being lived-in, and that is part of what made Lucas’s vision so appealing. Compare this with the old computer game Myst, a puzzle game published in 1993, which is set on an abandoned island. Myst is a creepy game because no matter where you go, there is no sign of life: There are no people, and nothing ever moves. As you “walk” through each level, you find all sorts of beautiful architecture, but every surface is spotlessly, unnaturally clean, in still frame after still frame. These buildings are not being used. The designers of Myst may have enjoyed creating their immaculate world, and players may enjoy visiting it, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Fortunately, here in the real world of Swarthmore, we have the freedom to customize and rework our environment. We can take those bare walls and hang things on them; we can take those empty pathways and write on them. While Swarthmore’s beauty may be reminiscent of a screenshot from Myst, we are not trapped alone on an island far too large and alien to call home. We can populate this campus and make it our own.

Why shouldn’t we permit ad-hoc public artwork? Why shouldn’t we allow people to participate in shaping their environment? At a liberal institution such as Swarthmore, our dedication to freedom of speech is unquestioned, yet if someone spray-painted McGill Walk, there would be objections and the college would spend whatever is necessary to remove the “tagging.” One answer is that sometimes it is best for the environment to carry no human message, for the walks to be bare, so that we can project our own thoughts onto them as we go for an afternoon stroll. It’s also important to limit the control of the past over the present: What may have been a relevant and powerful graphic in 2002 may no longer be useful today. That may be why we permit ephemeral chalkings which wash away with the rain, leaving a blank slate for future chalk artists, while we discourage leaving a permanent mark.

Ultimately, however, I think we should encourage people to take art outside of the studio or the Kitao Gallery, to avoid artificially separating art from life. I don’t think we do enough in this regard, despite various installations such as the famous giant Adirondack chair. Other colleges have statues which are redecorated by different clubs to reflect current events on campus, or giant rocks which are covered with hundreds of layers of graffiti. I think it’s time that Swarthmore had some more interactive art installations, developed by the community.

There is no need, however, to wait for some participatory art project, for there is plenty that you can do to interact with your environment today. An empty wall is a lonely wall. Take advantage of the blank slates around our campus, especially those wonderful chalk boards and whiteboards all over the Science Center, and leave Swarthmore a bit more human than you found it.

Nelson is a senior. You can reach him at npavlos1@swarthmore.edu.

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