XXVIII Amendment
This group exhibition is the result of a class assignment I gave to Visual Studies students in the course Visual Studies Seminar: Global Citizens (VS 2004). Students read the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and watched recorded interviews with legal scholars discussing both originalist and pragmatist interpretations of the Constitution. They were then tasked with writing their own amendments to the US Constitution, creating a visual image that reflected it, and writing a short research-based essay that explained their work (the essays are not included here). The following questions, along with group discussion, helped guide students’ work:
Do you view the Constitution as a legal contract (like a mortgage or student loan) that we are each bound to follow exactly?
Or do you view the Constitution as a living document that changes over time.
What, if anything, do you believe is outdated in our Constitution?
What, if anything, do you believe should be added to our Constitution?
What values inherent in the Constitution do you hold as your own?
Does current politics reflect your values?
Was there anything in the text itself that surprised you about the Constitution? For example, was there anything you realize now that you misunderstood?
Who is imagined as “We the People” in this document? Who is not?
Finally, what would you add to make this a more perfect document?
I commend our students for their thoughtful and passionate engagement with the issues raised in this project, and echoed so forcefully in the wider body politic. Here are some of the results of their reckoning with these timely matters
Dr. Leah Modigliani
Associate Professor of Visual Studies
Tyler School of Art and Architecture
In acknowledgement of the failures of the Constitution to form or maintain a fair, just, and equitable Union, we the People of the United States order its final Amendment.
Amendment XXVIII
Section I.
The Constitution of the United States, its prior Amendments, and the branches of Government and their functions formed therein are henceforth dissolved.
Section II.
Establishing and maintaining the health and welfare of every Person, whether a Citizen of the United States or of the World, will take precedence to maintaining any future form of Government or legislation set up by the United States.
Notes
The United States will presently transition to National and State Parliamentary systems, electing members by Choice Voting. We the People will aspire to improvement, disavowing permanence; the terms of this system are therefore not set out in this Amendment and are subject to change.
“Amendment 28,” 2020, Tik Tok, Dimensions variable.
Emily Foster, TYL ‘20, Visual Studies
Instagram: @suckinga_lemon