Testing Testing

Testing, Testing is a project that aimed to explore the process of artistic production as research methodology. Initiated and produced by practice-based Ph.D. researchers from the Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3Ri) PhD Programm, the project took the form of an exhibition at SIA Gallery, a symposium event, and two publications. The exhibition included film, photography, text, painting, code, and installation. Inquiries considered distraction, technology, language, the nature of the model, surveillance, the uncanny, narratives in heritage and healthcare, the politics of the female body, screenplay structure and literature in the visual arts. Drawing from these diverse research processes and practices each of the artists taking part developed a dialogue with an invited contributor. These dialogues formed the Testing Testing publication, website and public event 2nd September 2016. The short film Lines of Resistance was exhibited as part of this and a dialogue took place with Michelle Atherton which contributed to the publication. Lines of Resistance is part of a body of artwork which consider historical surveillance methodology and through this explores the dynamics of ‘looking’. Initially this was explored in terms of camera technique such as the framing and point of view. When documenting the new German Federal Intelligence Service building and the Berlin Wall Memorial Site, ‘looking’ incorporated gaining access to look. In order to be able to see over the security walls surrounding these sites I adapted technology, which either created a better point of view from which to look, or increased the resolution and size of the image. The film, informed by the narration of tour guides and visitors comments, explores their interaction with and reactions to the memorial and considers the space as a site of control. The wall presents a brutal and barren environment illustrating a bleak history, which is disrupted by the arrival of colorful, enthusiastic and intrigued tourists. This disjuncture and sometimes humorous and clumsy encounter forces us to question how we navigate, consume and reflect upon these sites of human tragedy.