After being ordered to move his artwork off campus, WashU student Max Schreiber set the project up on the corner of Lindell and Forest Park. (Sydney Tran | Editor-In-Chief)
A WashU student engaged in a performance art piece was asked to leave the East End of campus, with administration citing the Facilities Access Policy as the reason for requesting him to do so, on April 7.
Junior Max Schreiber, a Studio Art student, was performing “An Exercise in Durational Performance Art” as preparation for his upcoming art show, and the sculpture he was asked to remove from the premises will be displayed in an art show Schreiber is holding in the coming days.
The performance entailed him setting up a white, tent-like sculpture with a canvas surface in Tisch Park that students could use as a canvas to paint and write on.
Schreiber, who is a member of WashU Jewish Students for Palestine (JSP), claimed the canvas was envisioned as a commentary on the arrests at Tisch Park last year, but clarified that students were not directed to paint anything in particular. Some WashU students took the opportunity to write messages relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict in support of Palestine such as “Long Live Palestine.” Students also painted messages for demands such as “Abolish WUPD.” Schreiber said he knew some of the students who attended but not everyone.
Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Julie Flory said the Facilities Access Policy specifically states that temporary structures, such as Schreiber’s piece, require prior approval to set up in public areas.
“According to our Facilities Access Policy, any tents or other temporary structures require prior university approval,” Flory wrote in an email to Student Life.
While the performance piece was not for a specific class, Schreiber explained that Sam Fox students regularly create art outside of class that still relates to the principles learned in their coursework.
“I’m in a class right now called Methods & Contexts,” Schreiber said. “All of the junior Studio Art majors are in it. It’s to prepare for the BA and BFA show, which is what I was doing this project for, and my professor knew about it. I’ve talked about it in class. ”
Senior Kyra Sorkin, who is also in JSP, answered questions from the public for Schreiber while he was doing his performance piece. She said that after Schreiber started the performance at 11 a.m., WUPD came to question Schreiber about the performance within 10 minutes.
Schreiber said that, although WUPD later left the immediate vicinity of the performance, they stayed in the surrounding area for its duration.
Sorkin said that, soon after, two deans from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts approached and asked Schreiber about the performance.
“I was speaking to [the deans],” Sorkin said. “They asked if the [sculpture] was movable. And I said, ‘Yes, absolutely, it’s not bolted down to the ground.’ They ended up walking away.”
According to Sorkin, soon after, Ally Schipma, assistant director of residential student experience, approached the performance and engaged in multiple conversations with Sorkin.
Initially, she asked Sorkin what the performance was about and said that while the sculpture was in violation of policy, it was unclear exactly what the students should do with the sculpture.
Schipma then left to get more information. When she returned, she said she was sent by Student Affairs to tell Schreiber that students were not allowed to have temporary structures on Tisch Park.
Sorkin said that Schreiber had interpreted the order from Student Affairs to mean he needed to physically hold the sculpture above the ground, and that Schreiber was willing to comply with any rules Student Affairs had set.
Schreiber pointed out to the administrators that other students had installed structures without interference, to which Schipma said that complaints from students led to the school asking for the work to be uninstalled.
Eventually, two additional staff members from the Sam Fox School came to speak to them.
“[They] basically said we needed to leave immediately,” Sorkin said. “Otherwise, [they said] Rob Wild is threatening to [send in WUPD].”
When asked for comment, Rob Wild, associate vice chancellor and dean of students, referred Student Life to Flory’s previous comment about the Facilities Access Policy stated earlier in the article.
At around 2:30 p.m., Schreiber voluntarily took the performance and went to the corner of Lindell and Forest Park, across the street from the east edge of WashU’s campus. There, he and around 20 other WashU students stayed until around 4 p.m. as some passing drivers on the nearby road honked in support of Schreiber’s sculpture.
Schreiber pointed out the inconsistencies in the enforcement of the Facilities Access Policy since spaces like Tisch Park have been used in the past by art students for performance pieces.
“Last semester, someone brought a couch to Tisch Park, and it was a performance piece, and they left it up all day,” Schreiber said. “It was no issue, but there was [an issue] with us in less than 10 minutes, because we’re wearing keffiyehs and were visibly pro-Palestine.”
The performance piece Schreiber referred to was built in Tisch Park in November of last semester by senior Elliott Andrew and consisted of a couch and a wall. Andrew’s performance lasted for around three and a half hours with no interference from the administration.
“I didn’t ask for any permission,” Andrew said. “About an hour into it, the groundskeeper came out and told me that I shouldn’t be on the grass because there were ‘Don’t be on the grass’ signs. But outside of that, I did not have any conflicts [with the] University.”
Andrew’s performance was in November of 2024 and the Facilities Access Policy states it was last updated in September of 2024.
Schreiber said his exercise in durational performance art was heavily inspired by Happening, a form of performance art that was popularized in the 1950s that blurs the lines between everyday life and art.
“It’s art that happens in a public space where there’s a blur between the performer and the audience, and people interact with the ‘happening,’” Schreiber said. “ I was interested in that movement because I think we exist in WashU, in this bubble of campus policies, especially with the Palestine stuff. I was interested in what happens when we put this conversation in a public space.”
Junior Maya Iskoz, who attended the performance piece, said she understood the piece as a commentary on how the University has handled discourse over the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“I understood the piece to be more of a comment on the University’s handling of speech about Palestine rather than a direct protest which is how some have perceived it,” Iskoz wrote in a comment to Student Life. “[It] reminded me of [the] Happenings … This Happening was successful in its ability to create an experience that pointed out the absurdity of the University’s enforcement of its rules.”
Senior Parker Robinson who was present at the performance said despite the administration asking them to leave, it was a positive experience to be able to broaden the audience outside of WashU.
“The goal was to comply with every order that [the administration] gave us so we left,” Robinson said. “We were getting a lot of honks on the street, so it was nice to kind of take [the performance] back into St Louis if WashU didn’t want us.”
Junior Charlie Weingarten, head of the Jewish Advocacy Council (JAC), attended the performance after hearing about it from friends and members of JAC. Weingarten said that, although she is in support of art and free speech, she thought that phrases like “Long Live the Student Intifada” painted on the sculpture were not necessary.
“I am all for free speech. I’m all for performance art and protesting, but the art piece contained a phrase that is a call for murder,” Weingarten said. “There are ways to protest against the current war without being anti-semitic or calling for the extermination of your fellow students.”
The canvas was also painted with the words “from the river to the sea,” which has been labeled as antisemitic by some WashU students and administrators, including Chancellor Andrew Martin in a blog post from 2023.
Schreiber said that, despite the reaction from WashU’s administration, he was happy with the results of the performance.
“I was excited about the response and how many people hung out all day,” Schreiber said. “But [it] wasn’t surprising, because I know behind closed doors, these conversations are happening … This campus is more pro-Palestine than it lets on, but the speech is repressed.”
At the time of publication, Ally Schipma, assistant director of residential student experience, has not responded to a request for comment.
