Garrett Cebollero_The Roof is on Fire_Week 2 Assignment

In The Roof is on Fire there were many tactics of utilizing community engagement to amplify inner-city teenage voices to challenge the stereotypes that pollute the media. The project looked to put the teenagers center stage, giving them the opportunity to be a voice for themselves to discuss socio and political issues that are affecting their lives. One of the artists in the project, Suzanne Lacy wished to create a “model of society” and what she saw as the “ideal” version that would focus on listening to one another and giving voice to the youth. A main point in the staging of the piece was to put the youth up on a higher elevation to have their discussions and then invite media and spectators to listen and view on that level. This was in the efforts to show people that the youth are on a higher level than they are thought to be. Road signs that created a confusing mess of directions lined the outer walls of the parking structure and the students were placed in vehicles that were arranged in a jumbled up mess. One of the teens described the sensation the audience should feel as they leave as being confused, not knowing your reality and questioning the paths and stories about the world around you. 

Though in theory the project looked to help the teens and bring awareness to the outlandish stereotypes of inner city youth, It did feel that the whole endeavor was manipulating teens to make an art project for the Artists. Lacy even said in the film that yes she understands that the project is collaborative and yes the teen voices are vital to the project, but there were still some elements that she would collaborate or budge on. Seeing the setup and “aesthetic” of the event as her paintbrush and canvas. She let the teens talk freely about the issues, but even went into creating cue cards and talking points for the teens. The cards seemed like a nice thing to help direct the teen’s conversations and keep a momentum during the event, but it created a manufactured and unauthentic structure to the project. The issues that were discussed were serious and were many that were affecting the lives of the teens, but it was never mentioned if the topics discussed and the creation of the cue cards were made in collaboration with the teens and the pressing issues that they felt most important in their lives, or if it was just created in the lens of an outside perspective that sees most information from the source that one is challenging. The event overall was a nice way to turn the power and voice over the the teens who were constantly getting discriminated against in media and society. Though the structure and feeling of “ownership” to the piece that one of the artists had, leaves an unsettling feeling in one’s stomach.