Maegan Gindi

Recently, you may have noticed a group of students in navy blue jump suits walking around the Quarter Mile in spray-painted gas masks, yelling random words out of megaphones, playing the violin, standing around what looks like a giant, futuristic bugle made out of aluminum tubes and spray painted plastic cups, with a giant face on the front. They look as if they might be protesting something. In fact, they very well could be protesting something, although that’s not completely clear. They call themselves “The Innovation Squad,” and if you ask them what they’re doing, they’ll likely reply: “Innovating.”

Early last month, there was a large performance art exhibition on April 7th at 1:50 p.m. outside Wallace Library. Since then, there have been four “Acts of Innovation.” The Innovation Squad is “a performance art society dedicated to the emerging symbol, symptom, and simulacrum of innovation at RIT. In a selfless gesture of respect and admiration for the inherent potential of this university, the society will do its utmost to manifest that spiRIT in spontaneous acts of innovation.” This group is part of “Ruptured Technology,” which encompasses The Innovation Squad (performance art), SpiRIT Molecule (interdisciplinary submissions of art, photography and video), and Meditations (conceptual sculpture).

Arthur Simons III, one of the members of the group and a fourth year Biotechnology major at RIT stated, “I started thinking about this stuff [in] my second year and during this time, you start to really become conscious as an individual, and that is what college is all about. Suddenly, you have a realization that this is really it, and I really chose to be here. I did a lot of art in the last few summers and went home and made some bizarre sculptures. I started thinking about changing my major, but I decided to finish the biotech. But I’m still doing a lot of art on the side.”

Simons spoke about technology being a burden as much as it is an asset, “Technology doesn’t make life easier. It creates a new life which you might have to live. A lot of the technology I see isn’t facilitating any advancement toward any higher process in our lives to create a new frontier for us to live in. It’s just entrenching us, almost creating our own prison.” This sort of mindset has perpetuated itself within the Innovation Squad, who want to “break the boundary between performer and viewer,” which they try to do through their Acts of Innovation.

In regard to the student reaction, Simons stated, “I expect some people to be made uncomfortable by it because anything which breaks your routine, breaks your comfort. This sort of engagement breaks your reality and appears hostile. Most of us are stuck in a set reality. When students see us, they should understand that what we’re doing is unique because it has no justification. There is something very powerful in that,” Simons said. “It just ‘is’ and so that allows the viewer to just ‘be’ as well. We’re just doing this and that allows for this moment of liberty where you can be whatever you want to be.”

Acts of Innovation are said to take place at a very set time for a particular reason. “Acts of innovation are planned between 1:50 and 2:10 [p.m.] for the reason of the class change and this means that more people are outside… These things are planned every week. I would like to do more than one time a week but our schedules don’t work. It is a lot of work… The Innovation Squad is not closed, anyone can participate,” Simons said.

For more information on future Acts of Innovation, or to watch a video of past Acts of Innovation, check out RupturedTechnology.com.