CFA Chalking Ban, 2017, in collaboration with Ruby Lanet

​

chalk, steel, wood, yarn, latex gloves, 5-gallon buckets, water, suit, duct tape

 

Duration: 5 minutes and 19 seconds

 

Wesleyan University had a rich history of chalking on the pavements in the Center for the Arts (CFA). Students used to chalk the pavement religiously, using it as a community billboard. 

 

Chalking became a major channel of activism on campus. Students started to use the chalking to criticize the administration, which led the university to ban the practice. Notably, some students supported the ban, arguing the already over-worked custodial staff were burdened with cleaning the marks. After a few years of students pushing back, the original protesters graduated, and with them, the culture of chalking. The chalking ban remains intact, but due to the rapid turn over of the student body, most students on campus are unaware of the history and subsequent prohibition of chalking. 

 

This performance explores the relationship between student activism, the administration, and the custodial staff. Additionally, the piece seeks to reinstate the ever fleeting nature of institutional memory on college campuses.