A pro pos of today's article in the Washington Post, a brief writing exercise I did on Sulkowicz's piece:
In the fall of 2014, Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz made international headlines when she began carrying a 50-lb. mattress with her everywhere she went while on the Columbia campus. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) was the sole focus of her senior thesis. Two years prior, Sulkowicz says she was raped in her dorm room by fellow student Paul Nungesser, with whom she had previous consensual encounters. According to a police report filed the following year, following consensual sex, Nungesser “hit her across the face, choked her, and pushed her knees onto her chest and leaned on her knees to keep them up.” He then restrained Sulkowicz by holding down her wrists and anally raped her, then left her room without saying anything. As she would later find out, Sulkowicz was one of three women who claim to have assaulted by the same man, an ex-girlfriend of the assailant known as “Natalie,” and another student known as “Josie”.
The three victims filed a formal complaint with the university, and in the summer of 2013, Nungesser was let off. “Natalie” was ruled against in the university hearings after she stopped responding to inquiries. “Josie” seemed to fare slightly better when her complaint was upheld, but it was ultimately overturned in an appeal which she chose not to fight. In the case of Emma Sulkowicz, the university found her accused assailant “not responsible.” Sulkowicz was now left to carry the weight not only of her assault, but of the other two students involved.
Frustrated by the outcome, Sulkowicz filed a police report with the NYPD, which brought her no closer to resolving the case than working with Columbia University did. In the summer of 2014, while studying at Yale University’s Summer School of Art and Music, Sulkowicz began to form her senior thesis: an exorcism of her trauma, and a protest against the way sexual violence is handled on university campuses and the world at large. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) began with a video of the artist dismantling a bed, and also included a sound component of Sulkowicz’s police report, which she recorded while she was being interviewed. Finally, at the beginning of the Fall 2014 semester, Sulkowicz began carrying the large, 50-lb., dark blue mattress similar to the one on which she says she was assaulted. In her studio, Sulkowicz painted on her walls her Rules of Engagement: Sulkowicz must carry the mattress whenever she is on university property. If Sulkowicz leaves campus, the mattress must remain there. When she returns she must retrieve the mattress from where ever she left it. She may not ask for assistance carrying the mattress, but if anyone offers to help her, she may accept. She continues to perform this piece and has vowed to continue to do so until graduation if she must. She will not end the performance until Paul Nungesser is either expelled from Columbia University, or leaves willingly.
Reception to this piece has been largely favorable, and Sulkowicz’s actions have brought greater attention to the issue of campus assaults and given her a larger audience for her performance, including an appearance in conversation with New York Times co-chief art critic Roberta Smith at the Brooklyn Museum in December 2014. Sadly, amongst the tremendous support Sulkowicz has received, the inevitable victim-blaming, attacks on her credibility, attacks on her intelligence and artistic ability, and tremendous cynicism have all surfaced as well. In his article New Evidence Suggests Mattress Rape Victim Emma Sulkowicz Made It Up, Blair Naso writing for Return of Kings (an online publication which features articles such as If There’s a Mess On Her Floor, She’s Probably a Whore and How to Identify 3 Common Types of Feminist Bullshit) cites Facebook messages exchanged between Sulkowicz and Paul Nungesser weeks after the incident as undeniable proof that the violent encounter between them was consensual. Further, based on the vernacular of the messages, the author asserts that “…college has apparently failed to teach [Sulkowicz] grammar and articulation as much as it failed to teach her art.” Sulkowicz’s performance only reinforces the cruel irony of the ignorance demonstrated in this article and the many others like it. Sexual violence has never been a cut and dry issue, with some victims of assault needing decades to come to terms with their trauma and share their stories, and some never coming forward at all. Only recently have “Yes Means Yes” laws finally begun to be enacted, and we have people like Emma Sulkowicz to thank for that.
The images of Sulkowicz being aided by fellow students carrying her burden have numerous writers comparing the act to the Stations of the Cross, and further implicated that Sulkowicz has a sort of messianic complex. Whether she sees herself as a savior for all victims of campus assaults and even the veracity of her claims are entirely beside the point. To paraphrase Lorraine O’Grady, it doesn’t matter who is saying it, as long as someone is. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) is the kind of deafening, uncomfortable, impossible-to-ignore piece that will continue to prompt more conversation, more legislation, and more effort on the part of university campuses to prevent sexual assaults and help victims bear the weight of their trauma.
Works Cited
In the fall of 2014, Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz made international headlines when she began carrying a 50-lb. mattress with her everywhere she went while on the Columbia campus. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) was the sole focus of her senior thesis. Two years prior, Sulkowicz says she was raped in her dorm room by fellow student Paul Nungesser, with whom she had previous consensual encounters. According to a police report filed the following year, following consensual sex, Nungesser “hit her across the face, choked her, and pushed her knees onto her chest and leaned on her knees to keep them up.” He then restrained Sulkowicz by holding down her wrists and anally raped her, then left her room without saying anything. As she would later find out, Sulkowicz was one of three women who claim to have assaulted by the same man, an ex-girlfriend of the assailant known as “Natalie,” and another student known as “Josie”.
The three victims filed a formal complaint with the university, and in the summer of 2013, Nungesser was let off. “Natalie” was ruled against in the university hearings after she stopped responding to inquiries. “Josie” seemed to fare slightly better when her complaint was upheld, but it was ultimately overturned in an appeal which she chose not to fight. In the case of Emma Sulkowicz, the university found her accused assailant “not responsible.” Sulkowicz was now left to carry the weight not only of her assault, but of the other two students involved.
Frustrated by the outcome, Sulkowicz filed a police report with the NYPD, which brought her no closer to resolving the case than working with Columbia University did. In the summer of 2014, while studying at Yale University’s Summer School of Art and Music, Sulkowicz began to form her senior thesis: an exorcism of her trauma, and a protest against the way sexual violence is handled on university campuses and the world at large. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) began with a video of the artist dismantling a bed, and also included a sound component of Sulkowicz’s police report, which she recorded while she was being interviewed. Finally, at the beginning of the Fall 2014 semester, Sulkowicz began carrying the large, 50-lb., dark blue mattress similar to the one on which she says she was assaulted. In her studio, Sulkowicz painted on her walls her Rules of Engagement: Sulkowicz must carry the mattress whenever she is on university property. If Sulkowicz leaves campus, the mattress must remain there. When she returns she must retrieve the mattress from where ever she left it. She may not ask for assistance carrying the mattress, but if anyone offers to help her, she may accept. She continues to perform this piece and has vowed to continue to do so until graduation if she must. She will not end the performance until Paul Nungesser is either expelled from Columbia University, or leaves willingly.
Reception to this piece has been largely favorable, and Sulkowicz’s actions have brought greater attention to the issue of campus assaults and given her a larger audience for her performance, including an appearance in conversation with New York Times co-chief art critic Roberta Smith at the Brooklyn Museum in December 2014. Sadly, amongst the tremendous support Sulkowicz has received, the inevitable victim-blaming, attacks on her credibility, attacks on her intelligence and artistic ability, and tremendous cynicism have all surfaced as well. In his article New Evidence Suggests Mattress Rape Victim Emma Sulkowicz Made It Up, Blair Naso writing for Return of Kings (an online publication which features articles such as If There’s a Mess On Her Floor, She’s Probably a Whore and How to Identify 3 Common Types of Feminist Bullshit) cites Facebook messages exchanged between Sulkowicz and Paul Nungesser weeks after the incident as undeniable proof that the violent encounter between them was consensual. Further, based on the vernacular of the messages, the author asserts that “…college has apparently failed to teach [Sulkowicz] grammar and articulation as much as it failed to teach her art.” Sulkowicz’s performance only reinforces the cruel irony of the ignorance demonstrated in this article and the many others like it. Sexual violence has never been a cut and dry issue, with some victims of assault needing decades to come to terms with their trauma and share their stories, and some never coming forward at all. Only recently have “Yes Means Yes” laws finally begun to be enacted, and we have people like Emma Sulkowicz to thank for that.
The images of Sulkowicz being aided by fellow students carrying her burden have numerous writers comparing the act to the Stations of the Cross, and further implicated that Sulkowicz has a sort of messianic complex. Whether she sees herself as a savior for all victims of campus assaults and even the veracity of her claims are entirely beside the point. To paraphrase Lorraine O’Grady, it doesn’t matter who is saying it, as long as someone is. Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) is the kind of deafening, uncomfortable, impossible-to-ignore piece that will continue to prompt more conversation, more legislation, and more effort on the part of university campuses to prevent sexual assaults and help victims bear the weight of their trauma.
Works Cited
- Smith, Roberta. "In a Mattress, a Lever for Art and Political Protest." The New York Times. September 21, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/arts/design/in-a-mattress-a-fulcrum-of-art-and-political-protest.html?_r=1.
- “Carry That Weight” YouTube video, 1:35:31. Posted by “BrooklynMuseum," December 17, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMXp3RLOVNg
- Bogler, Emma. "Frustrated by Columbia's Inaction, Student Reports Sexual Assault to Police." Columbia Daily Spectator. May 16, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2015. http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2014/05/16/frustrated-columbias-inaction-student-reports-sexual-assault-police.
- Naso, Blair. "New Evidence Suggests Mattress Rape Victim Emma Sulkowicz Made It Up." Return Of Kings. February 3, 2015. Accessed March 1, 2015. http://www.returnofkings.com/55168/new-revelations-suggests-mattress-rape-victim-emma-sulkowicz-made-it-all-up.
- Saltz, Jerry. "The 19 Best Art Shows of 2014." Vulture. December 10, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2015. http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/19-best-art-shows-of-2014.html.
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