Graphic by Sophie Littman
The Tufts University community has been ripped with anxiety this week. Students and faculty grappled with what appears to be either an ambitious piece of conceptual art or just a completely normal bench at the SMFA campus. The wooden structure, which has all the characteristics of a standard public seating apparatus, sparked intense debate about the nature of art itself and whether anyone can risk sitting down after its installation on Tuesday. “I’ve been standing for three hours because I don’t want to accidentally become part of a performance piece,” said exhausted sophomore Jake Martinez.
The potentially groundbreaking commentary on the mundanity of public spaces was first noticed when a combined-degree student placed their backpack on the bench. The student simultaneously received a citation for vandalism and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. “The piece brilliantly challenges our preconceptions of what constitutes functional space within an institutional context,” said visiting professor Dr. Erin Collins, who had been observed nervously hovering near the bench while pretending to check her phone. Her legs were shaking. “Or maybe I just really need to sit down. I honestly have no idea anymore.”
The alleged artist, Junior Miles Wong, has refused to confirm or deny whether the bench is an installation, stating only that “the audience’s uncertainty is a reflection of society’s desperate need to categorize and commodify everyday experiences.” He was later seen eating a sandwich on the bench, which three separate critics have already praised as a “bold statement on consumption in late-stage capitalism.” Campus maintenance staff report being paralyzed with indecision about whether to include the bench in their regular cleaning routine. “If I wipe off these bird droppings, am I destroying art?” wondered custodian Bob Thompson. “But if I don’t, and it’s just a bench, I’m not doing my job. I haven’t slept in days.”
The situation finally came to a head when campus officials attempted to settle the debate by installing a gallery-style rope barrier around the bench, only to spark an even more heated controversy about whether the rope barrier itself was a separate art installation. The barrier now has its own barrier, which has a smaller barrier around it, creating what critics are calling “a recursive masterpiece of institutional boundaries.” Meanwhile, three students have been awarded MacArthur Genius Grants for standing near the bench looking confused, while Wong has moved on to his next piece: accidentally leaving his coffee cup in a lecture hall, which has already been shortlisted for the Turner Prize.
