Dr. Rebecca Weller volunteered to participate in an art performance organized by art major Tanya Ratkowski on Friday, May 30. Weller played the part of an instructor, teaching volunteering student-participants methods for properly cleaning a hotel room. Ratkowski’s art piece was designed to spread awareness of the planned addition of a new hotel to the CSUB campus.
Correction: This article was updated on June 10 to clarify points in the photo caption.
California State University, Bakersfield has been spending a lot of money recently on bettering the campus like the new student housing and the new art building. However, some individuals may feel like some of these investments are unnecessary.
A recent project that is beginning development is the CSUB hotel. This hotel will be located on the South side of Hardt Field and will be open to the public as well as those who travel to CSUB for events.
Graduating senior art major, Tanya Ratkowski, seized this opportunity for her final performance to help share her reaction as well as awareness of what is going on around here in Bakersfield.
“They’re building the art department which makes sense because there isn’t a good one now; they’re building the dorms because there are so many new students coming in; but the hotel being built came out of left field,” said Ratkowski.
Ratkowski wanted to raise awareness about the hotel being built. Her performance is not meant to be a protest to the hotel, but mostly as an outlet for others to realize what is going on around them so that they may have their own opinion about these events.
Ratkowski staged her performance at the location where the hotel will be built and had several student volunteers as well as Dr. Rebecca Weller, a CSUB art lecturer on Friday, May 30.
Graduating senior liberal studies major, Elizabeth Duran, volunteered as a student in the performance. She felt that it was important to be involved in this performance because it allows others to form their own opinions.
“I think that it really makes us think about what’s going on around us and we need to have our own opinion about it,” said Duran.
Her piece was her first public performance. She set up a “classroom” in the field while Dr. Weller taught the class how to be good housekeepers.
“I did this as my reaction to the hotel being built and I chose a classroom setting because this is still a school so I compared that with learning how to run a hotel,” said Ratkowski.
“Is it good for the campus and for the students or are they just hoping to bring money to the campus,” said Ratkowski.
More people need to look at the events and changes happening over the campus and learn to formulate opinions and to do something about it.
