dg1221’s blog

For the memory map peace I chose to record my memories of struggling to get into classes at ITP. Embedded in a performance art piece the process of creating the map was perhaps more important than the map itself.

To give some background in each of the three semesters that I’ve been at ITP has struggled to get to classes and this is an experience which many other students share. In the fall of 06 the mandatory courses for new students filled across the board forcing many students including myself on to wait lists for classes they had to take. Eventually the student limit for all mandatory courses was raised but not before causing much unnecessary anxiety. In the spring semester of 06 I was unable to get into one of the course I wanted despite going to classes and ended up dropping the course I took to replace it leaving me short of credits. This semester I got all four courses that I wanted but one of them was canceled on August 30 after the first years had signed up for classes. This put me at the bottom of the wait list despite being a second-year student. In one week I went to eight classes and finally found one that I both liked and was open. On 9/11 during the second meeting of the class it was also canceled. This once again threw me on to the wait list only now all the classes had met once and most twice in their only four or five which were still open. There was one class which I did want but I was ninth on the wait list for it.

My memory map was created while I sacked or lay on the floor of ITP’s entrance hall next to the wooden mirror. I was dressed as a homeless man and set on and among cardboard boxes which I hadassembled for the occasion. Propped up next to me was a sign which read

Will Work
For Credit!!!
1st class cansaled 4/30
Replacement class cansaled
9/11
NOW 9 on Wait List
Pleas Help
Same Shit every semester

I sat on the floor, with occasional short breaks, from 11 in the morning till three in the afternoon. I spent much of that time making my memory map on the side of a cardboard box. I also used small digital video cameras to record the event from three positions, head-on, from the side at ground level, and directly down from above. The latter camera was focused on the map while I made it. (Eventually I hope to construct a video piece from this footage and when I do I will include in my blog.)
My intention was to dramatically and humorously highlight the inadequacies of ITP’s registration system through performance art and the memory map itself. I further hoped that by employing humor and by confining my performance to ITP, as opposed to the building lobby or another more public venue, my performance would be constructive rather than antagonistic.
At 3:30 p.m. I had a class for which I was waitlisted ninth. To my great surprise I was able to get into the class. This had little to do with my performance as the teacher simply expanded the class limit from 16 to 20 students. It was however a happy ending.
I will likely never know if my performance was successful prolifically except in the unlikely event that an administrator tells me so. At this point I don’t even know if the administration is aware of my performance. During the performance foot traffic seemed very low and many people ignored me as though I were a real homeless person. This was disappointing at the time and I was inclined to think my project was less successful artistically than I had hoped. Since then I’ve come to change my mind both because of the critique in class and because of comments made by students outside of class.
I believe that the memory map functions as an effective bridge to the original performance. In combination with the sign and video footage the observer gains a good sense of what it was like to be there. The map also goes beyond the performance in that it gives anyone who chooses to read it a more nuanced understanding of my experience trying to register for classes then they could have gained by simply passing by my performance. Dust the memory map is a map both to the memory of trying to find classes and to the memory of the performance.
As for things I might do differently if I were to repeat this project, I would’ve liked to have had a better costume. I also would like to use cameras with sufficient battery life and memory to cover the entire four hours of the performance. Finally I would like to have performed the peace on the sidewalk in front of the building ITP is in. I think this would have made the performance much more interesting to observe as well is to do. It would also have create significant technical challenges and might half require a crew to take care of the cameras.