Exhibition: Tearing Down & Building Up

Five Demands

"Tearing Down & Building Up" is an exhibition conceived for the 50th Anniversary of the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D) at the University of Washington. The five walls draw inspiration from the five demands made during the 1968 occupation of the UW president's office by members of the Black Student Union, and uses the visual language of construction to demonstrate tearing down in order to build up. This concept was completed and built in the North Allen Library on the UW campus as "Revolution and Evolution."

Angela Piccolo, Christen Miyasato, Monica Niehaus, and Samantha Spaeth

Duration: 4 weeks
Programs: Adobe Creative Suite
Advisor: Kristine Matthews

Winter 2018

Final Deliverable: Physical Model Walkthrough

The first wall introduces the concept of Tearing Down and Building Up

Tearing Down: Injustice

Building Up: Agency. Ensuring that the voices of all people are heard and considered in the student body, and staff at the University of Washington.

Tearing Down: Exclusion

Building Up: Diversity. Embracing and finding strength in the diversity of our campus and surrounding communities, providing students, faculty, and staff the tools and resources needed to be successful.

Tearing Down: Underrepresentation

Building Up: Representation. Creating pathways for diverse populations to access postsecondary opportunities, nurture and support their academic success, and cultivate a campus climate that enriches the educational experience for all.

Tearing Down: Discrimination

Building Up: Multicultural Learning. Advancing equity for underrepresented groups in higher education, and build from our legacy of advocacy to promote broad inclusion and enact positive change.

Tearing Down: Marginalization

Building Up: Diverse Spaces. Creating learning and gathering spaces to engage diverse populations by providing opportunities for co-curricular and holistic development, and with a pluralistic community to ensure student development, equity, and intercultural skills for life beyond the UW.

The interactive wall is made of postcards that are meant to be taken and shared. They include information and resources provided by the OMA&D to help build up agency, diversity, representation, multi-cultural learning, and diverse spaces on campus.

Our team's concept was chosen to be built for OMA&D's 50th Anniversary celebration. The timeline and information layout chosen for the other side of the walls were designed by Jazmine Hoyle, Dana Golan, and Eva Grate.

Actual Exhibit

The final exhibit design was created by Studio Matthews in the North Allen Library on the University of Washington campus. All photos of exhibit by Ben Benschneider.