Art Attack on DEI

Description: “…our dedication to academic excellence for the public good is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is central to our mission as an educational institution to ensure that each member of our community has full opportunity to thrive in our environment, for we believe that diversity is key to individual flourishing, educational excellence and the advancement of knowledge.”
President Schlissel, Charge to the U-M Community for a Strategic Planning Process on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our video, inspired by the Keith Haring piece, Art Attack of AIDS, which is housed in the University of Michigan’s Museum of Art, comments upon the apparent diversity – or lack thereof – on campus. We focused especially on the opinions of students, those who live, work, and learn on the campus day-to-day, and who are often the most directly affected by the university’s policies and overall climate. In addition to learning more about our friends and classmates, we gained multiple insights into the varying meanings of concept of “diversity” and how the idea can affect the individual experience.

Upon being tasked with going through the list of artifacts submitted for the university’s bicentennial, we were initially intimidated and at a loss for what to do with the list of some two hundred items. In the end, we chose Haring’s piece largely because featured a distinct style and caught our interest, especially in how the art responded to a social issue. Instead of simply being a project for a project’s sake, we decided we wanted our piece to address a social issue on campus. Following the theme of the bicentennial, we wanted to discuss inclusivity in the university, and how it has changed over time. We stumbled upon the idea of creating a video when challenged to think beyond our initial idea, and took to it largely because it allowed us to draw in our original source better. It also gave us as a group the opportunity to utilize video recording equipment and editing software. As we neared, and continue to near, the end of the semester, our schedules and academic workload created some difficulties in finding time to all gather and work together, but in working in small groups focused on interviewing, editing, and creating the video, we successfully completed the product now in front of you today.
Rights: All Rights Reserved
Relation: Art Attack