Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)

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Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) at Columbia University's graduation ceremony on May 19, 2015 (Sulkowicz: center right)

Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) was the final thesis by Emma Sulkowicz (* 1992), an American art student, at Columbia University in New York City . The performance , in which Sulkowicz always carried a blue mattress with him to demonstrate against sexual violence that is said to have happened to her personally, attracted worldwide attention from September 2014 to May 2015. Sulkowicz claims to have been raped by a German fellow student on a similar mattress in August 2012 . Even before the performance began, an examination by the university that lasted several months had rejected Sulkowicz's complaint against the fellow student as unfounded; public prosecutor's investigations later came to the same conclusion.

According to her own statements, she wanted to wear the mattress until the student she accused was punished.

In May 2015, details came to light that cast significant doubts on the rape allegation. There are obviously messages via SMS and Facebook in which Sulkowicz affirmed her love for the accused after the alleged rape. A lawsuit by the student against Columbia University, according to which he was insufficiently protected from persecution by Sulkowicz and her supporters, ended in a settlement.

background

Emma Sulkowicz in December 2014

Emma Sulkowicz met the student in 2011. In the spring of 2012, the two of them sleep together twice, but decide to stay friends. In August 2012 they both meet at a party and go to Sulkowicz Zimmer. There, she claims, he beat her, choked her and, although she screamed loudly, raped her anally. According to the student, they had consensual anal intercourse instead, after which he stayed with her for the night and walked quietly in the morning. Two days after the alleged rape, she wrote on Facebook on August 29, 2012 that she wanted to see him: “We haven't had a Paul Emma chill session for a long time.” On October 4, it followed: “I love you Paul . Where are you!?!?!?!?! ”Eight months later, Sulkowicz reported him to the university as a rapist, but not to the police. This was followed by interrogations by the university over a period of seven months. The presence of a lawyer is not permitted during such investigations. A medical examination by Sulkowicz or a trace analysis of the mattress did not take place. In November 2013, the allegations were dismissed. In May 2014, the student was referred to on flyers and in graffiti as a "serial rapist".

Almost two years after the alleged crime, Sulkowicz reported him to the police. The student was interrogated by the New York City Attorney's Office. Investigations are not started. Sulkowicz withdrew her complaint. The procedure is too long for her. Shortly thereafter, Sulkowicz started her performance Carry that Weight , in which she dragged the mattress across the campus where he raped her.

Litigation

On April 23, 2015, the student sued Columbia University, its advisory board, its president Lee C. Bollinger, and Sulkowicz's supervising art professor Jon Kessler in the United States District Court of New York City for discrimination against damages. Columbia University moved to dismiss the lawsuit. On March 11, 2016, a federal judge granted the university's application because the requirements for a successful claim by the student under "Title IX" were not met.

The student then appealed. The proceedings ended in July 2017 with a settlement in which Columbia University officially apologized to the student, praised his "academic and personal successes" as John Jay Scholar and as compensation for the lack of protection during his studies after his discharge in the face of ongoing personal attacks and insults Sulkowicz 'and her supporters on campus paid damages of an unknown amount.

public perception

The performance attracted international attention. The New York Magazine showed Sulkowicz with her mattress in the fall of 2014 on the front page. Hillary Clinton commented in this issue on the case with " That image should haunt all of us " (Eng. "This image should haunt us all").

The student denied the allegations and spoke of a love affair with Sulkowicz, for which he could also perform SMS from Sulkowicz. He sued Columbia University for failing to protect him from the public allegations and protest. Sulkowicz reported the student in 2013, with two other students also accusing him of sexual abuse. However, the university found the student innocent in all three cases.

In May 2015, details of the German student's lawsuit came to light, raising serious doubts about the rape allegation. There were messages via SMS and Facebook in which Sulkowicz apparently affirmed her love for the accused after the alleged rape.

Follow-up project

In June 2016 Emma Sulkowicz published the video Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol ( French: This is not a rape , based on Magritte's Ceci n'est pas une pipe ). It shows in explicit pictures how she has sex with a man in a room in a dormitory, who then beats, chokes and anally rapes her. In a first version, the video, recorded in the style of surveillance cameras, was time stamped on August 27, 2012, the date on which, according to her statements, she was raped by the German student, later the date was obscured.

See also

Web links

Commons : Emma Sulkowicz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carola Padtberg-Kruse: Rape allegation: Elite student drags her mattress around. In: Spiegel Online . September 4, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b Performance with a mattress: Artistic protest - or revenge on the ex? In: Spiegel Online . May 22, 2015, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b Rape allegation: German student sued Columbia University. In: Spiegel Online . April 24, 2015, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  4. ^ A b Frauke Lüpke-Narberhaus: Mattress protest in the USA: Alleged perpetrator denies rape. In: Spiegel Online. December 22, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Rudi Novotny: What happened on the mattress? In: Zeit Online from June 1, 2015
  6. ↑ Overview of the court proceedings (documents and dates)
  7. ^ Judge dismisses Nungesser case against Columbia. In: Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved May 27, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Max Kutner: 'Mattress Project': Columbia grad settles lawsuit over Emma Sulkowicz's protest art. Newsweek, July 13, 2017, accessed July 21, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Kate Taylor: Columbia settles with student cast as a rapist in matress art project. The New York Times, July 14, 2017, accessed July 21, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Rudy Novotny: No rape on the mattress. Zeit Online, July 19, 2017, accessed July 21, 2017 .
  11. ^ Meet the College Women Who Are Starting a Revolution Against Campus Sexual Assault. In: nymag.com. September 22, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Teo Armus: Sulkowicz films herself in a violent sex scene for newest art project. Columbia Daily Spectator, accessed November 21, 2017