DOUGLAS COLLEGE |

ARCHIVES "THE OFFENDED EYE (I)"

or "THE DIALECTICS OF INDIGENOUS ART"

It was a jaundiced eye I cast upon the unsigned memo in last week's "Mad Hatter" regarding the posting of notices. We have been asked to refrain from defacing our hallowed halls; and use only the notice boards in an effort to "preserve our environment". As an inveterate poster of posters, I find my sensibilities somewhat violated by this proclamation. There are larger issues at stake than first meet the eye. Let us consider these three:

(1) repression vs. imagination (2) keep it clean gang (3) folk art

Aside from a suspicion that the claim of "pretty extensive damage" is an exaggeration, I suspect there is an unexamined assumption contained in the plea for "preserving our environment" by keeping vertical surfaces in a reasonably clean and unspoiled condition.

No one maintains that walls are best appreciated in their pristine condition. We hang paintings on them, Douglas is now doing this and no one seems upset. So it boils down to the judgment that notices are aesthetically displeasing. But, visual pollution is a most subjective and controversial issue (e.g. the recent controversy over the Bob Murray sculpture in Ottawa. What about brother Bill's photos on our AV studio wall)? When is a notice not a notice? When it is a poster printed in the print shop? When it is a cleverly worded and illustrated plea for a ride from Cloverdale to campus? When it is my office hours taped to my office door? When it is a Toulouse Lautrec handbill?

Too often our reaction to a situation is to repress it, especially if someone senses a "violation". (Containment is often the compromise or "soft" solution, e.g. graffito (sic) boards in the biffies--are they only in the men's)? Seldom do we imaginatively explore the potentials that lie below the surface of the phenomenon. We fail to creatively discover the contradiction.

People are using the walls at Douglas to express their needs, to initiate projects, to rally support, to inform others, and hopefully more often, to amuse us. As we move through our College environment we Scan the walls for key words or images, discarding previously perused items and pausing to investigate new ones. It is

efficient, and fits into the flow of campus life. Who's got time

to stand and ponder the bulletin board crammed full of notices?

_ When it comes to walls, the medium can be the message.