Event 2: Design Media Arts Graduate Solo Show by Jonathan Moore

The entrance to the exhibit, with proof
of attendance of me taking a picture
with the worker at the front desk.

On April 25, I attended a Design Media Arts graduate solo show by Jonathan Moore, which was one of the most exciting art shows I’ve been to.  At the entrance to the cardboard exhibit, I could see very stern “workers” in tan uniforms, looking like they didn’t want to be there. I watched people in front of me in line give their IDs to the woman at the front desk. She looked everyone up and down, sometimes rolling her eyes annoyed. She was skeptical of everyone’s identities - even being rude and mean.  Consequently, I felt scared and nervous, wondering if this was part of the exhibit or if we needed to have a legitimate ID instead of a BruinCard.  When it was my turn to give the woman my ID, I handed it to her and she looked at me up and down, then back to the card, then back to me.  My heart was racing, and she spoke for the first time, raising her eyebrows while doing so, demanding “What is your ID number.”  I quickly recited my ID number, and she widened her eyes and continued to compare my face to my ID.  Finally, with a serious expression, she said “This doesn’t look like you,” but allowed me to pass through.  

Then, I walked through a metal detector and placed my backpack onto the conveyor belt.  The next worker, scanned me with a hand-held metal detector.  He yelled, “ARMS TO THE SIDE!” and aggressively scanned my body with the detector, glaring at me, which made me nervous.  He repeated the process twice, then allowed to me pass without saying  a word.

The worker scowling at a student,
interrogating her as he retrieves
a bag from the conveyor belt. 

Next, as my bag passed through the conveyor belt, the worker at that station yelled, “WHO’S BAG IS THIS?!” I stepped forward to claim the bag.  He then interrogated me about the substance in my water bottle and was doubtful to my response. I was scared and wondered what he would do if he never believed me.  He finally returned my bag to me and gestured towards a box with a black joystick.  Copying the people in front of me, I touched it and moved it. Then, he grabbed a colored sticker titled “OK”, slammed it on my shoulder, and continued to intensely interrogate the next person’s belongings.  I believe that depending on how you touched the joystick, you received a certain sticker titled “OK,” “REJECTED,” “ACCEPTED,” or “DO NOT USE.” While I was watching other students get assigned stickers, someone yelled “SWITCH,” and all the workers switched positions.

The sticker variations as well as the mysterious
joystick.

Proof of attendance, showing me in the exhibit with my "OK" sticker.

Then, another worker crammed five people through a door of a small room, showing no respect towards personal space as we could barely fit into the room and felt very uncomfortable.  Inside, a microphone hung from the ceiling, indicating we were recorded.

A worker opened the door for us to exit the room and we proceeded to walk towards the next worker.  She stopped the student in front of me, who was wearing an “ACCEPTED” sticker, and asked her a series of questions for a survey, including: “Did you enjoy your visit?,” “Was the staff courteous?,” “Would you come again?,” and  “Would you recommend this to a friend?”  When the student answered these questions in a positive manner by saying she enjoyed her visit, would come again, and would recommend it to a friend, the female worker approved.  However, when the student stated that the staff wasn’t courteous, the worker quickly responded, “I’ll take that as a yes, we were courteous,” disregarding the student’s actual response.  Once the student left, I asked if I was supposed to answer the survey as well, but the worker gestured me away, leaving me confused.

               

                   The small room, in which the workers
                            crammed five people in.

The microphone hanging inside
of the room.

I believe the purpose of this exhibit is to show that humans are treated as products in today’s society - as we were aggressively handled without courtesy, uncomfortably shoved in a room, and unappealing answers were disregarded.  Discrimination could also be a theme. Everyone is treated poorly from the beginning; however, after receiving a sticker, they are treated differently depending on the sticker.  The worker only surveyed people with the “ACCEPTED,” since they were “accepted” by the workers and were more likely to answer positively.  Workers becoming machines could be another theme, as none of them showed any emotion and all of them performed their jobs without common levels of respect.  

Overall, I would recommend this thought provoking event to others.  These themes connect with how art and science are one in the same as this art exhibit used forms of technology to convey these deeper meanings about society as a whole.