This month visitors to the Columbia College Library in the 624 S. Michigan building will be able to experience and explore something more than a ample selection of wonderful literature. In the first floor of our library there are selected works on electronic display which help to represent the work of local social, religious, and activist groups regarding the fight against apartheid in South Africa. These local organizations were consistently collaborating to work towards ending racism on a global scale, with a special focus on South Africa and Central America. Many of these organizations sponsored events, speakers, committees, and protests and their work and the publicity it generated is presented in a simple and accessible electronic manner.
It was initially unclear wither or not this exhibit, which is almost entirely contained on a single computer terminal barring a few wall pictures, would contain anything engaging or interesting to the common student. However, the exhibit, although simple, is indeed a thoughtful and beautiful little gem which provided a excellent glimpse into Chicago’s contribution to the global anti-apartheid movement.
The computer presentation is broken into three distinct smaller presentations and viewers have the option to browse through old issues of the Columbia Chronicle, which detail anti-apartheid activity in and around the Columbia College campus and how Columbia students were able to use their distinct gifts to help spur the movement forward in associations like “Columbia Artists Against Apartheid”. There were also sections which displayed anti-apartheid art, posters, event publicity, and even T-shirts which conveyed anti-apartheid themes.
These electronic presentations of actual physical art were very simple but beautiful in their own way. The quality of the presentation was very good and the images were shown in a crystal clear manner which will allow viewers to be impressed with the art’s content despite the inherent drawbacks of viewing physical art in electronic format, which usually contributes to an extreme loss of the art’s power and message. Another reason to why the posters, t-shirts, and event publicity were still effective is because the range of artistic expression regarding the public’s outrage over the evil of apartheid was simply impressive and even moving in its own right. These pieces addressed a wide range of topics and issues of the day including Chicago anti-apartheid events, Nelson Mandella for President posters, and even images which took shrewd potshots at political leaders of day, such as a Ronald Reagan WANTED poster.
This exhibit is very modest yet extremely accessible to students and the general public who might visit the Columbia College Library. The exhibit provides a brief yet insightful look into a very disturbing and heartbreaking issue in human history. However, the tone of the exhibit contains a far more inspiring and hopeful message about what human beings are capable of. In chronicling Chicago’s efforts to help the global initiative to end apartheid we can see the good in humanity when we are faced with our worst capabilities.
Adam Mohrbacher
2/9/2009
Adam, thanks for sharing your work with us last week. I hope you got some useful feedback in class. If you have questions about how to use that information, drop me a line.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I want to underscore: how about some links and images? A blog is not a typewriter! It's more like a conduit to other places and images and ideas. But this post is a dead end.