the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950
The S pectrum ubspectrum.com
Volume 62 No. 48
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Culture shock in the CFA Story on page 11
A look at the UB School of Social Work Story on page 9
A reimagined home
UB professor Maher displays organized chaos at Albright-Knox
Aminata Diallo /// The Spectrum
Dennis Maher stands on the second floor of his house, which is filled with more of his unconventional artwork. He is this year’s artist in residence at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
KELSEY BENNETT Staff Writer Foam lined the walls. Pennies spilled from the woodwork. Spotlights shone through holes cut in large pieces of plastic. Within the dimly lit room, music played over videos of the artist evaluating his work. Picket fences painted red were broken over large beams on dark metal. It was cold and sharp until you looked at the other side. Soil and colorful pottery were displayed inside a picturesque frame. Mirrors reflected scenes across the room, despite the broken 15-foot plastic dome nested within the collection. Dennis Maher’s massive collection, which is made up of demolished buildings and remnants from around his West Side Buffalo neighborhood, is his attempt to demonstrate the connection between art, architecture and community. Maher, an architecture professor at UB, is an architect and an artist and sees no difference in the two. He was featured in The New York Times on Jan. 23 and is this year’s artist in residence at the Albright-Knox Gallery. His show opened on Saturday. He created House of Collective Repair to explore a “person’s private space in an outermost public arena.” He said this piece of art attempts to “intensify the relationship between those two facets of experience.”
Maher asked local trade workers to create vignettes for him – featured in House of Collective Repair – by using demolished buildings and remnants from around his neighborhood. It was the first time he’s ever solicited other people for his artwork. It was also the first time he’s shifted his attention from demolition toward restoration. The departure highlights Maher’s personal interests through what he sees as a synthesis of sculpture, architecture and renovation. After the trade workers created the vignettes, Maher assembled the pieces into a unified structure – a way to reveal the buildings’ histories. He was not envisioning something easily understood – neither was he intending it to be an object of beauty. “[I] encourage discovery and glimpses into a world within and between which house and city reverberate against one another,” Maher said. Maher was compelled to develop his artwork not only as an exploration but also as a celebration. The community invests a great deal of effort into rehabilitation of buildings and while dilapidated buildings receive more attention, renovations are, perhaps, a worthier focus in Maher’s eyes. Maher said using other people’s perspectives in his work is a “new beginning.” By involving people in his project who work with homes, he became much more interested in the social dimensions of his practice. By involving the workers, he said he was able to
Aminata Diallo /// The Spectrum
Dennis Maher works on one of the many sculptures that fill his Buffalo home. The architecture professor creates art from home objects like pieces of dilapited buildings, old deck chairs, brooms and silverware.
create a more intimate connection between the home and the process of constructing a house. The tension between city and home is a perspective that has endured for many years throughout Maher’s work. Maher is a man exuberant about his art, which was obvious as he explained the “overlay” between city and house his current artwork demonstrates.
That same energy, according to his former student John Costello, makes up the man behind the art. Costello, a sophomore architecture major, described his former professor as “vibrant and articulate with a vivid personality.” He said while it might be easier to think of Maher as crazy, he is actually very intuitive, and his work is resultant of a fine artistic process combined with his personality. Continued on page 4
Student government stack up
How does UB’s SA compare with others in the SUNY system? SARA DINATALE and REBECCA BRATEK Senior News Editor and Managing Editor UB’s Student Association is one of the most “unique and autonomous student governments in the country,” according to SA President Travis Nemmer. Nemmer and the total $4.2 million budget he controls caught the attention of The New York Times early this week. Nemmer, who takes home a $12,000 stipend for his position, was the only SUNY student government president to make The Times’ roundup. But he isn’t the only president in the SUNY system who oversees millions of dollars and
thousands of students. However, there aren’t a lot of rigid mandates for how exactly student governments need to operate. Stony Brook University, Binghamton University and Geneseo differ from UB. SUNY student goverments don’t have excessive interaction with each other, but the SUNY Student Assembly is a connective thread. President of the Student Assembly Kevin Rea, who attends Maritime College, represents the nearly half-million students who make up the entire SUNY system’s student body. UB’s autonomy sets it apart from other schools, including ones within the SUNY system. Continued on page 4
Inside
Opinion 3 News 6
Life 9,10 Arts & Entertainment 11,12
Classifieds & Daily Delights 13
Sports 14