Green Fountain--Tyler Jones

The Site:
Site with proposed piece.
Detail of proposed piece.

Inspired by the works of Marcel Duchamp (Fountain) and Kurt Schwitters (Marzbau), I decided to take a new look at the school’s recent recycle craze by turning the campus fountain into a monument for recycling, while also making a piece of art that will spark both discussion and controversy.

Taking a page from the Dada playbook, I felt that making a piece of art that was “safe” or “traditional” would add nothing to the campus but banal aesthetic beauty. There is no point to aesthetic beauty if there is nothing engaging about the work, especially at an institution that claims to be one of higher learning. So…

Instead of trying to make the campus look “better,” I wanted to push the campus to be smarter by trying to make the college campus more of a hotbed for discussion of ideas and philosophies instead of a place people only go in order to pass a class. The fact that my piece is beyond the traditional realm of retinal art (art that is merely pleasing to the eye) will force viewers to question the meaning of the piece, as well as what it says about the school’s focus on “going green.”

By challenging students to think about their surroundings and the consequences actions of today will have on tomorrow, the Green Fountain takes the critical thinking processes taught in the classroom and applies them to the real world.

Tyler Jones

Mat 110

Project 4