At Postcrypt, Political Science Meets Art

Columbia students may not need an excuse to sound off on the upcoming election, but “The Propaganda Show” at Postcrypt Art Gallery invites the campus to do just that—in the form of art. According to curator Cassie Spodak, BC ’09, the objective of the show is to “encourage students to think about the candidates and the state of politics in this country not just as red and blue, conservative and liberal, but as players in a larger machine.” She explained that “The Propaganda Show” wants to explore “how this machine takes regular people and produces images and icons that shape nations and history.”

The Postcrypt artists may not have been entirely successful in visually articulating the subtle links between politics and propaganda, but they are definitely generating candid discussion about the current political situation, especially the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. In fact, students are responding to interactive works with shocking honesty. In Quotes Collected From Students About the 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates, a wall collage constructed by Jessica Schwartz, CC ’11, includes comments such as, “Biden definitely has gotten Botox,” “Sarah Palin is an airline stewardess,” and “Thank God Obama is leading in the polls.”

The element of anonymity pervasive in the show encourages contributors to forget their inhibitions and speak frankly. This is most notable in a piece by An Wang, BC ’11, whose life-sized voting booth invites viewers to “step inside and cast your vote” by means of comments written on Post-it notes. What is so fascinating about the mock polling booth is the opportunity it offers students to bluntly express their political views without self-editing. Considering the political leanings of the Columbia campus, Spodak explained that the work aims to fight against the perception that “everyone thinks the same thing, has the same opinions—usually liberal—and people forgot how to disagree.” Works like Wang’s attempt to provide space for spontaneous debate and disagreement, free of the formalities of a more structured argument.

While Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are undeniably stars of the show, not all the artists featured in the “The Propaganda Show” chose to focus on the current election in their submissions. Eagle, a submission by Andrew Bulger, a graduate student in the school of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, offers a more nuanced form of propaganda with its depiction of the United States’ distinguished national symbol. Pieces like Eagle may not grab your attention with shocking commentary about the candidates currently running for office, but it is interesting to consider how the images and symbols that we take for granted might influence our overall perception of the political system.

If you take a visit to the Postcrypt Art Gallery yourself to view “The Propaganda Show,” you will see that it is not the most polished or professional-looking art show around. The majority of the artists featured in the show used ordinary materials to construct their works, including plain white computer paper, magazine cutouts, and thick cardboard boxes. None of this, however, gets in the way of understanding the compelling messages the artists are communicating through their pieces. If anything, the simplicity of the artistic media helps to convey the urgency and immediacy of the content in so many of the artists’ works.

Of course, it could just be the influence of the artists’ own propaganda putting that idea in our minds.
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“The Propaganda Show” is currently showing at Postcrypt Art Gallery, which is located in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel.