Could you describe a person you saw briefly so that a police artist could draw a recognizable sketch? Could you pick that person out of a set of photos?  In this interactive session, Michigan Innocence Clinic Director Dave Moran, psychology student Aryn Margulis, and Ken Wyniemko, who was wrongfully convicted because of his resemblance to a police sketch, will engage the audience with identification experiments and present research about eyewitness identifications and how they lead to wrongful convictions.

Designed as a courtroom installation and a performance series by Roman J. Witt Artist in Residence Courtney McClellan, Witness Lab frames witnessing as a social and artistic act. The gallery collapses courtroom, theater, classroom, laboratory, and artist studio in order to study the relationship between performance and law. Public programs, classes, and mock trial performances investigate who plays the role of the witness in our society, and help us to understand truth within our legal system.

In her investigation of America’s courts, McClellan’s practice engages K-12 and university classes across a spectrum of disciplines including law, drama, and anthropology, among others. 

Due to the nature of the project, the schedule for all Witness Lab events and simulations are subject to change without notice and changes may not always be reflected in online listings.

Witness Lab is presented in partnership with the Roman J. Witt Artist in Residence Program of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, with lead support provided by the University of Michigan Law School and Office of the Provost.