"In Our Own Words" Film Screening and Panel

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On October 17th, Ratrock screened “In Our Own Words: On Being Trans at Smith”, a documentary which aims to explore the intricacies of trans college students navigating a traditionally women-centric university. The two-part event, hosted in the Sloate media center in Barnard’s Milstein library, was followed by a Q&A style panel of trans students and alumni from Columbia and Barnard. The Sloate media center, normally a production studio open to student-use by reservation, was transformed into a cozy theater for the purposes of the event. This lent itself to being a perfect space for thought-provoking film and intimate conversation, which felt fitting given the sensitivity of the subject matter and the personal nature of the interviews. Though many members of the audience had never previously met, there was a pervasive sense of community between guests. Attendees took their seats amongst greenscreens and production lights with Insomnia cookies, chatting amongst themselves in anticipation for the documentary until the door closed behind us, practically unnoticed. 

Eventually, as the lights dimmed to signify the start of the event, guests settled into a quiet excitement. Sam Davis, director and former Smithie, stood up to provide context for his documentary. As he prefaced, “In Our Own Words” was created while Sam was studying for his undergraduate thesis. During his research it had quickly come to his attention that Smith’s archives contained meticulous documentation of women’s history dating back to the 1800’s… but not a single word on transgender individuals. The film aimed to rectify this shortcoming by providing a video-archive of trans experiences on Smith’s campus. With that, Sam took a seat just as his own joyous home-videos began to roll.

What unraveled was a nuanced discussion between trans people of various ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and intersectional identities (though it is important to note that no trans women were featured due to professing self-concern or uneasiness). Since the project’s origins in 2016, nearly 40 current students and alumni have participated in interviews. Though ideas differed, for example some claimed to suffer more from hypervisibility on campus while others touched on feelings of invisibility, the film reached a general consensus was that Smith has failed young trans individuals while remaining accepting on paper. Smith College, as Sam suggests in his film, is dearly hanging onto their tagline, “women for the world” with little room for interpretation. As the event itself was hosted on Barnard’s campus, one of the oldest all-women colleges, an obvious parallel was created between Smith and Barnard which invited the audience to consider their own plight, or that of their neighbors. 

Though one could easily assume that this sense of indeterminacy would translate into a frustrated tone, the documentary remained hopeful and spirited. Various times throughout the film, montages of transmasculine and non-binary students laughing or basking in sun provided uplifting visuals. Being transgender myself, I saw myself relfected in varying degrees within the wide-range of students reflected on film. As Aba Micha ‘16 asserts, “The ideal of Smith is to provide a learning environment for people who aren’t valued in traditional ideals of higher education and academia… And I think there’s a spirit of what Smith should be that doesn’t exclude trans people.” That is to say, the majority of these students are particularly frustrated exactly due to their loyalty and belief in Smith’s core message.

As the film wrapped up, panelists Aydan Shahd, Galen Hawkins, Spencer Douglas, and Sabina Jones gathered on stage to begin the Q&A portion of the event, moderated by Sam himself. Sam started by opening up the floor so that panelists could relate their general experiences on campus. Barnard senior Aydan noted the similarities between Columbia and Barnard policy from his perspective as an admissions representative, in particular pointing out that Barnard requires that applicants “must live an identity consistently as a woman”, which in itself is strangely ambiguous. Galen recounted their experiences struggling with feeling heard in class, Sabina commented on interactions with professors, and Spencer described their bittersweet feelings towards their time at Barnard. All in all, it appears that trans students from Columbia and Barnard, much like Smith students, held mixed feelings. Certainly, one can feel grateful for a space to explore their identity while also feeling frustrated with the lack of resources within that space to do so. Given that Columbia’s sole advocacy organization for transgender students, Genderev, has disbanded this year, this message appeared particularly important to consider moving forward. 

As the event came to a close, Sam provided closing statements on his film, suggesting that we consider the next steps on our own, whatever they may be. As audience members began to funnel out of the room with their cookies, discussing the film or otherwise catching up with one another, it was inevitable that I began to reflect on my own experiences on campus. All in all, I too share mixed feelings about my time here. Though my perspective is certainly qualified by the fact that I am a cis-passing trans man who has had the fortune to medically transition before coming to Columbia, my standard for trans acceptance on campus has lowered over time as communities disperse. “In Our Own Words”, if anything, allowed for a moment of well-needed community building in the wake of Genderev’s disbandment. Small independent communities that value trans voices, like Ratrock itself, allow me to retain my belief that Columbia and Barnard’s spirits (and Smith’s, for that matter) aren’t in opposition to change in order to better meet the needs of trans students and communities. 


Winter Featured Artist Show

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Interviewed by Zoe Sottile

Photographs by Sabine Ostinsvil

The Movement Lab is one of the newest additions to Columbia’s artistic culture, an unassuming space that hosts everything from dance classes and coding workshops to film screenings and lighting demonstrations. On March 7th, the Movement Lab became the location for Ratrock’s uniquely interdisciplinary and multi-sensory Winter Featured Artist Show, putting the work of dancers and performers in conversation with painters and architects. The show brought together works by Sarah Courville, Nathan Farrell, Kosta Karakashyan, Gisela Levy, Calvin Hsiao-Sen Yoshiki Liang, Taelor Scott, Miles Zhang, and Anton Zhou. The large empty space was transformed into an experiential gallery, highlighting each artist’s different works and method(s). 

  Walking into the Movement Lab in the lower level of the new Milstein Library felt like entering an alternate universe. First you descend into the basement from the outside; then you pass through inconspicuous white doors to the gallery exhibition. Taking off your shoes and backpack, visitors leave the miscellany of school behind. The rest of the library was loud, busy and trembling with the stress of upcoming midterms; this space was dark, enclosed and separate. Some of Gisela Levy’s laboriously, delicate papercut works were hung just before the entrance to the movement lab proper. These works were a different experience in viewing - an intricate primer for the rest of the show. The small delicacy of the works contrasted with the larger interactive scale of the works within the dark, multi-sensory space

Cushions were piled into two organic, irregular shapes becoming low seats to sit and face the screens and glowing sculpture at the center of the room. Barefoot visitors gravitated to facing the screens or sculptures,  sitting down and then watching as the show unfolded around them. Featured artists’ work was blown up to a massive scale on the lab’s projectors. Since there were multiple screens, the images could be viewed simultaneously side-by-side. Whereas usually the process of looking at art involves isolation - you move from piece to piece, you keep your attention focused exclusively through sight, and the silence of a gallery. At this show, it was almost impossible to resist taking in multiple pieces at a time.

The pieces in the show lent themselves to this simultaneity. The artists designed and curated the show themselves, leading to purposeful intersections of theme and content. Sarah Courville’s collages, for example, put the body under an investigative eye. Her works, which usually fit in the palm of one’s hand, become more than life size on the projectors. On another screen simultaneously, Calvin Liang’s architectural photographs and drawings, which are bodies of another kind, were projected. Myles Zhang’s work similarly contemplates the built world. Zhang’s quick impressions and dynamic watercolor paintings gave a sense of lightness that contrasted with the complexity of some of the other work. Anton Zhou’s stunning oil paintings which  often have human subjects, became more powerful in see their intense emotions on a larger scale because it made them feel all the more present. 

The space is equipped with technology that enables creative possibilities: an intensive lighting set-up, for instance, painted visitors’ faces with bright colors. Most visitors migrated and clustered in groups and chatting throughout the show, dying down when one of the multiple live performances began. Even before the live performances started, vibrant music filled the space, varying from songs I recognized - SZA’s Weekend - to more experimental pieces. All of the elements came together - the music, the bright lights, the space’s physical separation from the academic stress of campus, the act of sitting on the floor barefoot with strangers - and cultivated a sense of otherworldly-ness and gave me an almost childlike joy. Art shows like this are one of the few moments when Columbia students are brought together by something other than schoolwork. 

Throughout the night, Kosta Karakashyan, a Ratrock featured artist and the movement lab’s artist-in-residence, both alone and with other student dancers, began to perform short excerpts of choreography from a showcase in the center of the space. His movements often started out subtle - you might miss them if chatting with a friend or looking at the projected paintings. But gradually they gained dynamism and drew the focused attention of all the visitors. The dancers’ casual outfits, blending in with those of the gallery goers, lent an element of spontaneity to the performance. I never knew when the gallery was going to transform into a dance floor; throughout I was fully immersed in the experience happening around me. Alongside the dancers, Nathan Farrell, a March Ratrock featured artists, performed live music alongside Liam Broderick. His rendition of popular songs, like Frank Ocean’s “Forrest Gump,” contributed to the show’s contemporary atmosphere. Like Kosta’s performances, this live music reinvigorated the idea of the art gallery, breathing new life into an old idea. 

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And given the multimedia nature of the show, it was impossible to fully separate the dance floor from the gallery. The nature of the projections meant that theoretical intersections between different pieces became real and physical - like when Kosta’s body passed in front of one of Sarah Courville’s collages and the piece was projected onto his skin. Putting these analytic images of human bodies next to Kosta’s living, breathing, sweating works of art demonstrated just how many different ways art can tackle the same subjects. 

CTA Hindsight

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Photographs by India Halsted

Written by Nicolas Lopez-Alegria

On the evening of April 11, Ratrock’s Spring Call to Artists brought together campus creatives around the theme Hindsight. Honoring the inclusive philosophy of CTA, Ratrock exhibited at least one work from each student who submitted to the call.

A large and shining tower composed of mirrors stood in the middle of the room, with shards of glass, aluminium foil, and glitter scattered about its feet. The central structure and its many reflections not only stood as a testimony to the theme, but also organized the space by encouraging viewers to walk around it and visit the gallery concentrically. In the back, the Ratrock banner hung proudly behind a music stage. Elizabeth Bailey BC ‘22 opened the gallery by performing two original titles “Man on the Moon” and “Sex Dream” alongside CHKY bandmate Colby Lamson-Gordon – a great success with the audience. Visitors crowded around the stage and began to dance; even when roaming around the gallery, their attention was guided to the captivating live performance.

After Elizabeth and Colby’s performance, the lights dimmed and the gallery became more intimate. The pieces were lit individually, encouraging viewers to group around them, study them more closely perhaps, and begin conversation. The walls were covered in student work of different mediums – photography, paintings, mixed media, and even jewelry. Scattered between the pieces hung small mirrors, bringing the viewer to encounter their own reflection from time to time. Words also filled the gallery space, like the poems of Jazmin Maco, whose work “Jam-ai-ca” called for remembering and reconnecting. Noelle Penas’ vibrant orange and red paintings of a feline were backlit with neons, endowing them with a striking nocturnal quality which integrated them well into the low-light environment. Mia Greenberg created pendant, resin pieces almost like necklaces, that reflected on the reification of women. Each of them was composed of a translucent tile within which was caged a magazine cutout of a naked woman, with string tying up her limbs. In the back of the room, a tall oil painting with a mirror for background had been serendipitously left to dry overnight by an student taking a course in the same room.

Replacing Elizabeth under the Ratrock banner, a DJ station with large amplifiers was set by the Ratrock staff. The mixing table was draped with a large reflective cover whose crinkled metallic aspect gave the music corner a retro-UFO feel. After a soft, electronic mix by Ben Bieser, Chadwick MacMillan bathed the large space with an underground atmosphere through their house music. Next to Chadwick, a turnstyle decked with Ratrock’s hand-printed tote bags was gradually emptying its racks.

Above all, CTA Hindsight’s most captivating aspect was the students’ many different interpretations of the theme. Some students pondered on the meaning of afterthought in writing, like Sophie Lee. Other work focused as much on the form as it did on the content: many artists such as Ellen Alt and Eliza Jouin used analog photography to whisk the viewer away into the nostalgic adventures of their pasts. Also a photographer, Calvin Hsiao-Sen Yoshiki Liang documented the slow, contemplative flow of nature with his landscapes. And finally, some found literal inspiration in Hindsight, like Margaret Maguire who presented three pictures of hinds.

Altogether, CTA Hindsight impeccably showcased both the talent and diversity of artists in the Barnard/Columbia community, and Ratrock’s continued effort to create engaging spaces for art on campus.

Fall Featured Artist Show

Video by Hanna Agbanrin

The Ratrock Featured Artists Show is an art exhibit curated and organized by Ratrock’s featured artists. The exhibit showcases a couple examples of each artist’s work curated in conversation with the other work The Fall show displayed works by Ling Groccia, Kassia Karras, Aja Isabel, Phanesia Pharel, Amy Gong Liu, Sonia Kahn, Cameron Lee and Stefani Shoreibah.
The show featured both visual artworks and live performances. Performance art pieces included a DJ set and live readings of short stories and poems.

CTA Disposable

In Ratrock’s “Call to Artists,” Columbia and Barnard undergraduates are encouraged to submit their artwork around a selected theme. The artwork received is then curated into a digital gallery and featured in a show. In keeping with the willingness to democratize art, every artist is guaranteed at least one piece in the gallery.

The theme of the Fall CTA, disposable, led to a wide scope of interpretation of the theme and range of eclectic artworks. Overall, works proposed a reflection on material disposability, but also on the disposability of subject matter. The latter could entail taking a picture of an object perceived as being disposable such as plastic bags.

Works included sculptural assemblages of items found in the street, pictures of literal trash along with photos taken on a disposable film camera. More meta works were concerned with the disposable aspects of an image (i.e. the contact print or first image of the role) and a photo playing on the notion of “disposable income,” to name just a few examples. The event culminated with a performance by the genre-defying band CHKY. The curation itself was tailored to the theme. The art studio Dodge 501 was covered in trash bags, the central stage adorned with the Ratrock sign, and empty boxes of pasta.