From October 31st to November 10th, ASU students and faculty are hosting an art exhibition aimed at motivating students to exercise their voting rights. The exhibition, called “Spin the Vote,” was created by ArtistsWhoVote, a nonpartisan group of students, faculty, and alumni who use art as a means to mobilize voter participation.
Spin the Vote first launched in 2020 with a $10,000 grant from the Center for Artistic Diversity. The grant funded 12 arts projects across the country that fostered mobilization.Abigail Galvin in recent times A graduate of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts was one of the first students to launch the project.
“There were fewer places accessible to voters and less time,” Galvin said. “So we were trying to find a way to make polling places more visible. Things have changed. Access has changed, but most people don’t really realize it.”
Galvin said the group wants to address these changes and make sure it gets talked about. This is especially true for young voters who live in ASU.
Housed in the Harry Wood Gallery, the exhibition serves as a gallery and demonstration campaign as many works of art can be removed and used for political demonstrations. Pieces include signs in English and Spanish saying “tu voto es poderoso”, “just fucken vote”, “sigues votando si no votas” and “What if your vote is stolen?” etc.
The gallery also includes representations of ballot boxes that students can stick themselves to and parade around campus. Students said, “I’m sick of this shit, but I voted anyway,” “This shit makes me sad, but I voted anyway,” and “I feel completely dead, but I voted anyway.” I voted.”
read more: These are all polling places on ASU’s four campuses.
These phrases were gleaned from the artist’s conversations with students on campus to understand their feelings about voting. Kasey Kutcher, a member of ArtistsWhoVote and a researcher in gender, women and sexuality in her junior year, said in conversations with other students that some students are still struggling to vote. said to show
“A lot of people on campus are probably just coming of age or under the age that we talked about,” said Kutcher. It seemed very difficult.”
Kutcher said interacting with students who were just beginning the voting experience was “overwhelming” and they were unfamiliar with the process. I felt.
Kutcher also found that many of the students who could vote are discouraged from doing so.
“We’ve spoken to a lot of people who felt like it was like a scam or almost rigged,” Kutcher said. It’s a problem, so in general, voting alone can seem very polarizing.”
According to Kutcher, in conversations with students, many find voting “dirty” and “overwhelming”, making it impossible to follow politics in general.
Sabrina Apostol, a fourth-year student studying intermediate arts and neuroscience and another artist on the project, shared her own struggles with voting and how students are motivated to vote.
“We are not all happy with the idea of voting, and we are not all disillusioned with it,” Apostol said. “Recognizing how your community is affected, and how you influence it, empowers you to vote, even if you are confused or conflicted about it. I think it’s a big part of feeling given.”
Gregory Sale, associate professor and co-founder of the Herberger Institute, says projects like “Spin the Vote” can be very impactful to voter mobilization efforts, and ArtistsWhoVote will set up installations around campus on Election Day. said to install.
“We came together to run elections and united to encourage young people to vote,” Sale said. “And today, knowing why you vote and why you don’t vote, and feeling willing to participate in the conversation. , we just wanted to have a dialogue about it’ and have fun. “
Spin the Vote runs through Thursday, November 10th, and visitors can still participate with their autographs and costumes.
Edited by Reagan Priest, David Roddish, Luke Chatham.
Contact the reporter at rchatty@asu.edu to follow @rishabchatty on Twitter.
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Rishab Chattypolitical reporter
Rishab is a political reporter for the State Press and a third year student studying Political Science. He is also an Advocacy Associate at the Crane Center for the Prevention of Mass Cruelty and Assistant Editor of Realist Review.
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