Culture Shock

A GITPROP WANTS YOUR MIND--WANTS TO BLOW IT UP, freak it out and float it to a higher plane of consciousness. The goal is mass artistic awareness, and for Agitprop, art is everywhere. Living up to its funky monniker, a condensation of "agitation propaganda," Agitprop digs up facets of our culture and packages them for popular consumption. After only two years, this energetic arts group has organized many offbeat events to accomplish their goal.

Last year, Danny Rimer '93, Mathew Lee '92, and Matthew Butterick '92 were agitated by what they termed the trendy, upper-East-Side art propagated by Harvard's Triptych, (a group which had been in existence for three years) and conceived of Agitprop as a means of providing an alternative approach to cultural awareness. Simply put, Agitprop aims to mobilize interest in the arts at Harvard. Rimer explains that the most effective means to this end is to "coerce a response," and indeed, their events are designed to seize attention and elicit an emotional reaction.

Rimer explains, "We want people to realize art isn't dead, that it is part of the community in which we live...[If] you force people into seeing art, they'll enjoy it, it will speak to them and become real. Art should serve a political and cultural function for everyone--it's not just cocktail talk. Art shouldn't be aristocratic, this is a socializing and democratizing process."

They mean it, too. Agitprop works hard to make all aspects of culture accessible, expanding their target population beyond cliques of angst-ridden artistes to the entire Harvard-Radcliffe community; beyond the usual repertoire of painting and sculpture to live music, talks given by professors, graphic design, performance art and cheerleadings and beyond. Tryptych's exhibition site in the basement of Memorial Church to the open-aired squash courts at Adams House into the previously unexplored realms of the Busch-Reisinger, Fogg and Sackler Museums, the Carpenter Center and even the steps of Widener. (Next year they plan to invade the dorm rooms). In an effort to intensify the bond between art and our daily lives, Agitprop is waging a war for cultural coolness on all fronts. The aim, according to the pithy Rimer, is "passion, not fashion."

Agitprop has supervised a wide variety of events. They kicked off the year by spiffing up the midnight Halloween organ concert at the Busch-Reisinger Museum, projecting slides of grotesque paintings on the ceiling to enhance the cerie atmosphere. The Fogg has also encouraged their efforts, and Agitprop has organized a series of professorled discussions on works pulled from the museum's stored collection. Agitprop emphasizes that these discussions operate on a "passionate" rather than academic level, and that everyone's individual response is considered and appreciated. Also, the professors are not art historians, but instead discuss their "hobby-level" interest in art, or how they apply art to their particular field of study. Rosemary Joyce, a specialist in Meso America, gave a talk on Chang dynasty pottery, and Agitprop's schedule for next year includes notables such as David Layzer on the Russian Constructivists, Stanley Hoffman on David's drawings of the coronation of Napoleon and Graham Boone on the Harlem Rennaissance.

But you don't need a faculty position to spread your message through Agitprop; the group prides itself on-exposing Harvardians to new student talent. This year's highlights have included a number of undergraduate exhibits, including two shows in the Adams House squash courts, one in the lobby of the Carpenter Center, a travelling exhibit which passed through Eliot, Leverett, Adams and Hilles Library between February and May, and Matthew Butterick's graphic font exhibit at the Sackler. Stressing that the group is neither selective nor competitive, Agitprop welcomes all and more forms of student art (although they do admit a preference for less mainstream work).

The group is also exploring less conventional means for attacking cultural complacency. Attracting lots of attention this past Arts First weekend, Agitprop staged a "multi-media extravaganza." Cheerleaders, the Parliamentary Speech and Debate Society. The South Asian Dance Company, and the Wireless Club took turns on stage while the Texas Club grilled up grub for passers-by and Fat Day, the only mobile band at Harvard, trooped around campus for four hours. Agitprop also organized several "tableaux vivant" of masterworks on the steps of Widener, including Raphael's "The School of Athens" and Rodin's "The Thinker" and "The Kiss." Plans for next year include "Playing With Space," a campus wide competition for the most "creative dorm room space utilization" (the winning bedrooms, bathrooms and closets will be photographed and exhibited) and a project for student musicians to compose and perform scores for silent movies.

Agitprop certainly envisions a sort of artistic communism, drawing out previously ignored realms of our culture and celebrating them all as tools in the revolution. And if this year is any indication, it can't be contained. With membership up from three to 20 and more events on the way, Agitprop wants to expand the party.