Last fall, students in the departments of Art and Art History and Digital Media and Design created the exhibition taking inspiration from \u201cThe Race Card Project,\u201d which was developed by journalist Michele Norris, a former NPR news reporter and host of \u201cAll Things Considered.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Race Card Project\u201d asks people to think about the word race and distill their thoughts, experiences, or observations about race into just six words. For the Benton exhibition, students in graphic design and digital media classes used typography, color, and motion to visually communicate their six-word designs projected on a screen.<\/p>\n Among the six word statements in the motion projection are:<\/p>\n A series of seven statements, some longer than six words, are projected opposite the moving images in a display that encourages museum visitors to post one of three stickers over each statement: agree (blue), disagree (red), or neutral (yellow):<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go into that room, it\u2019s a personal environment,\u201d says Jose Angel Ortiz Jr. \u201918 (SFA), a graphic design major and member of the team that designed the exhibition. \u201cIt\u2019s asking you to interact with the wall that\u2019s asking questions that you may not be comfortable with. We looked at articles that revealed some interesting information about our cognitive experience in regards to race. From the outside perspective, we look at it as colorblind. When you go back there, if you see a lot of yellow circles you will see a lot of colorblindness. I\u2019m interested in seeing how this plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n The graphic design classes were led by Mary Banas \u201903 (SFA), visiting assistant professor of graphic design, and Edvin Yegir, associate professor of graphic design. The motion graphics class was led by Anna Lindemann, an adjunct professor of digital media and design.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to give the students the opportunity to be honest with a subject that could be tricky,\u201d says Banas. \u201cWe had a lot of conversations and did a lot of research to create a space conducive to dialogue. We spent a lot of time on the interactive portion, reworking it as to what is the most effective way of engaging with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Lindemann says that in addition to the challenge of working with subject matter that is \u201cweighty,\u201d there was the collaboration among classes that are generally focused on their own work.<\/p>\n \u201cOften a class is within the class,” says Lindemann, whose students\u00a0worked on\u00a0projects that interfaced with Banas’s class and the museum. “It was exciting to extend beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n Adds Anne D\u2019Alleva, dean of the School of Fine Arts and a former\u00a0chair of UConn Reads: \u201cWhat you see in the gallery is really provocative, something that makes the viewer think and respond. That is so much the framework for communication with Millennials, as we\u2019ve seen with student protests and other initiatives around the country. Some of that mentality has been brought into the museum.”<\/p>\n The 2016 UConn Reads book is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness<\/em> by Michelle Alexander. In addition to the IN-DIFFERENCE exhibition at the Benton, a series of UConn Reads events and activities will take place during the remainder of the spring semester. For more information go to the UConn Reads website<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/video-one160122c016-e1453732700236.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n