A Pedagogy of Witnessing by Simon Roger I

Author:Simon, Roger I.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2014-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

THE SOCIAL SPACE OF THE COMMENT BOOKS AT THE WITHOUT SANCTUARY EXHIBITIONS

The above remarks begin to sketch out a general perspective for investigating the comment book as social space. However, such a perspective has to be considered in the context of the specific substance of an exhibition and the demands it may make on its visitors. In the case of the multiple instances of the exhibition of the Without Sanctuary photographs and postcards, the common premise across all such exhibitions was not only the presumed importance of providing access to a significant history of racist violence in America but as well “to issue an ethical and political command to see and testify in the service of justice.”10 It is no surprise that many Without Sanctuary comments are orthographic/lexical performances that take up the relation of the content of the exhibition in regard to the contemporary experience of race in America. My queries regarding these performances begin with questions regarding how such performances are socially organized, what seems to be their underlying logic, and in what manner emotions and ideas are expressed within the bounds of the medium of the comment. But further to the concerns of this book, I am also asking after the extent to which, collectively considered, the comments written may be understood as a particular way of extending the “conversation” about race in America. In this regard, I will be concerned with how the content and tone of this conversation might be shaped by the substance and structure of any given exhibition and in what ways such a conversation might influence the perspectives and future actions of a public-in-formation. Furthermore, I will consider how such conversations differ between the comments made at the Chicago Historical Society and the Andy Warhol Museum given the variations between their respective exhibitions previously documented and discussed.

Whether as a singular contribution or a remark provoked by a previous entry to the visitor book, each comment may be understood as a letter, or, better, a note written to a presumed unknown reader (or multiple unknown readers) of the comment. Sometimes it is evident that these presumed readers are museum staff members; however, most of the time the presumed readers are simply those who have also had access to the exhibition and are now reading the comment book. While these future readers remain unknown to the comment writer, implicit in the inscription of a comment is that its future reader will be someone like the writer who was interested and motivated enough to come to the exhibition. In this sense, the comment books at the Chicago Historical Society and Andy Warhol Museum gather the remarks of people who minimally share a common concern with the topics of their respective exhibitions. One implication of this is that the social relations of cultural production inherent in the exhibition itself constitute a medium for the formation of a public. In this respect, comment writing is part of the work of public formation.

But I still need to more specifically consider what is at stake for writers of comments at the Without Sanctuary exhibitions.

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