This example is probably my most prized photo...
If you can't read this plaque, it stays "THIS UNIVERSITY SUCKS". I was involved in student politics at the University of Wellington between 2005 and 2010--the Post Graduate Students Association--and I asked our president if he had any institutional knowledge about this plaque. He told me that the plaque was a little before his time, but it was illegally installed by the undergraduate students association because they were frustrated with the university administration (probably something to do with them supporting the increase of student fees or something like that)... Anyway, the student union dug a huge hole in one of the university gardens and filled it with concrete and this concrete structure was on top of to some underground electrical device. On top of the huge block of concrete, they embedded the plaque (thus, they knew that it would cost the university a small fortune to remove the entire embarrassing structure). If you look closely at the photo, you can see part of the block of concrete...
Because the plaque would prove expensive to remove, the university administration instead instructed the gardener to ensure the plaque remained concealed by their placing a thick layer of wood chips over it. When the gardener did this, the students would sweep the chips away (it seems that subsequent generations of students remained frustrated with subsequent generations of university administrators so the former remained highly motivated to ensure the plaque remain visible for all to see). This battle of concealing and revealing continued for many years... Around 2010 the university administration--in an environment were corporate symbolism and "image" management was perhaps peaking--finally decided to pay for the removal of this embarrassing plaque (they really couldn't afford that prospective students find out that perhaps this university sucked. Anyway, I managed to get a photo of it just before it was removed.
This plaque is a very interesting marking because--being an "official"-looking plaque--it is in no way associated with being "graffiti." But had the students spray painted the same message in the same place, then it would have been considered graffiti. Importantly, this creative marking transcends most, if not all, definitions of graffiti because it is a metal plaque (the near permanent means that established/powerful people use to convey messages). It is remarkably clever...
If you can't read this plaque, it stays "THIS UNIVERSITY SUCKS". I was involved in student politics at the University of Wellington between 2005 and 2010--the Post Graduate Students Association--and I asked our president if he had any institutional knowledge about this plaque. He told me that the plaque was a little before his time, but it was illegally installed by the undergraduate students association because they were frustrated with the university administration (probably something to do with them supporting the increase of student fees or something like that)... Anyway, the student union dug a huge hole in one of the university gardens and filled it with concrete and this concrete structure was on top of to some underground electrical device. On top of the huge block of concrete, they embedded the plaque (thus, they knew that it would cost the university a small fortune to remove the entire embarrassing structure). If you look closely at the photo, you can see part of the block of concrete...
Because the plaque would prove expensive to remove, the university administration instead instructed the gardener to ensure the plaque remained concealed by their placing a thick layer of wood chips over it. When the gardener did this, the students would sweep the chips away (it seems that subsequent generations of students remained frustrated with subsequent generations of university administrators so the former remained highly motivated to ensure the plaque remain visible for all to see). This battle of concealing and revealing continued for many years... Around 2010 the university administration--in an environment were corporate symbolism and "image" management was perhaps peaking--finally decided to pay for the removal of this embarrassing plaque (they really couldn't afford that prospective students find out that perhaps this university sucked. Anyway, I managed to get a photo of it just before it was removed.
This plaque is a very interesting marking because--being an "official"-looking plaque--it is in no way associated with being "graffiti." But had the students spray painted the same message in the same place, then it would have been considered graffiti. Importantly, this creative marking transcends most, if not all, definitions of graffiti because it is a metal plaque (the near permanent means that established/powerful people use to convey messages). It is remarkably clever...
