Di-versity, Uni-versity, 2018
Wood frame, 59 red plastic tiles, 35 dark blue tiles, 27 green tiles, 23 light blue tiles, 17 orange tiles
Public art installation
36 x 56 x 56"
This project was installed in Harvard Yard as part of the 2018 Harvard ARTS FIRST Festival.
Harvard University is dedicated to maintaining a diverse and inclusive student community. However, what diversity actually looks like is ambiguous and different for everyone. If there are only two identities like male and female, it would be easy to say that a half-and-half would be the most diverse. But identities such as gender and ethnicity aren’t simply binary. It’s difficult then to say what combination of identities results in the most diverse and inclusive community. It seems it would be most fair to have an equal number of all identities, but the population of some identities is way larger than other ones in America, so if we include equal numbers of each identity, we will end up excluding more people of the identity with the larger population. However, if we choose to include the number of identities in proportion to the population ratios in America, then the identity with the most population will dominate. This piece is a game for people to arrange their own version of diversity and think about what diversity actually looks like.