How do we arrive at an understanding of truth within our courts and justice system? What constitutes witnessing in our current tech and data saturated context? Courtney McClellan, the 2019-2020 Roman J. Witt Artist in Residence, will discuss Witness Lab, an installation and performance project that investigates who performs the role of witness in our society and examines the relationship between performance and law. She will be joined by an international group of science and technology studies (STS) scholars—humanists and social scientists who study the relationships between science, technology, politics, and society—for an informal conversation that explores the role of science and technology in our understanding of witnessing and the construction of standards of truth.   Following the gallery discussion, please join us for a film screening of El Panóptico Ciego (The Blind Panopticon) at 5:30 p.m. in UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium.

This program is presented in partnership with the conference “Behind Walls, Beyond Discipline: Science, Technology, and the Carceral State,” co-organized by the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the University of Michigan.
 

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.