13. Viral Intervention: Final Artifact

For our artifact, we felt the best choice was to show what was left of our project after we were rejected by FIU students and Tamiami residents. We felt it made sense to have what is essentially the result of not just ignorance but a lack of humanity from the people we interacted with. Our purpose was to have the final phrase be showcased as a cruel warning from a rather fun looking project. However, most people did not give us the time of day so that aspect of the project was not fulfilled. Even so, we felt it played into the aspect of the bubble created by ignorance still not being popped.

For this project we decided to execute it by creating a board with our phrase on the front side of it being covered by balloons. We aimed to have people crossing the intersection from FIU to be the participants of our projects. This area is mostly populated by FIU students coming from class. We considered that a number of these people come tired and are looking forward to their day ending, or they simply have other tasks that require their attention. We were surprised by the lack of participation at first since we were not asking people to scan a QR code, fill out a survey or other tasks that are otherwise tedious. However, as a conclusion from this almost experiment-like situation, we noticed that people would rather stare into nothing while waiting to cross the street, than to interact with another person.

13. Viral Intervention: Final Artifact

QUOTE-"diverse ideas and how they survive is very important" COMMENT- Any and every artist knows that more often than not, an idea is not able to see its way to completion. Whether it be time, supplies, or resources; the original draft or sketch is not usually the end result. This quote stuck out to me because an artist needs to be able to be diverse and be able to hold on to an idea but also know when to let go. However, it is important to keep the essence of the meaning behind the projects. QUESTION- Is an artist better or worse, based on their ability to always fulfill their original ideas? Is an artist someone who is loyal to their first craft or do they benefit from expanding their horizons for the sake of art? How does an artist benefit from being able to detach themselves from ideas?

As an artifact, we decided to collect the pieces of the bottles as well as the paper that we wrote the responses on. Collecting these materials resulted in essentially gathering the broken and shattered rights that people gave us an opinion on. We then carefully placed these materials into another glass container to show that these opinions and rights are safely kept in a bigger space. Symbolizing how opinions and hurt feelings are kept safely only when they are suppressed and downplayed. The opinions of the people cannot be read or understood; yet they are showcased. We as people know that we all have opinions and ideas, but we are often discouraged because we know it's safer to be silent.

Our final project aimed to get the individual opinions of many diverse groups based on race, gender, and age. We interviewed people who attended university, people who already have jobs and families, as well as people who were just getting a snack. We asked questions that we ask a group discussed would be most interesting to the general public. We drafted questions based on religion, education, race, immigration and birthrights. After gathering our responses we turned to documenting them on paper to show that each person is their own individual idea and opinion, in their private bottle. As much as one values their opinion as a citizen, we then decided to shatter and break these bottles against a white wall. Despite the United States of America being perceived as a free and honest country, opinions from the general public often collide against a metaphorical wall. Whether that be the government, politicians, educators or even themselves.

for our final proposal we wanted to get the direct opinions of the general public based on questions that we formulated based on current media. we wanted to ask different age groups, races and genders. We then want to put the responses on the small bottles along with ink and smash them against a wall. This would symbolize how the rights are shattered when they are challenged.

for this proposal we wanted to look at what the public thought about the current state of the world. We wanted our piece to be made of paper and ink as well as glass. We were going to include the preamble and constitution, alongside it we are gonna have the opinions of what students and everyday citizens feel.

For this proposal we wanted to make individual components make up the United States of America flag. We thought of fabric and glass as different materials that could possibly be used to show that the country is made up of different opinions and ideas. We wanted to have people pull apart the flag once they were told or realized that there are rights that the state of Florida or the country in general no longer has.

For this proposal we wanted to work with not only glass but as a result we wanted to have it broken. We wanted a literal approach to the "shattered" word of our phrase. Our point was to have the preamble be shattered and interact with people. Our location would ideally be around other students or people that have great interest in the laws and how the government works.

Our approach for this assignment was centered around a religious group I came across before class at around three o'clock. It is a group of people that always stay around GC and preach their religion, loudly around campus. Our phrase had a lot to do with the way that people state their opinions and essentially have to fight back for what they think is right. While the people we recorded are often described as "controversial", there are the prime example of what our phrase signifies. The people we filmed are fighting for their rights both as those who speak and those who listen.