ABSTRACT
The democratic process depends on the vitality of public space. Public space is, after all, the space of rights—a space that allows the questioning of rights to spread freely. Visibility and public testimony are closely linked to recovery from traumatic experiences. According to trauma theorist and clinician Judith Herman and many others who work with trauma, the struggle to recover from trauma, often by finding a narrative voice through testimony, has a greater chance of success when performed as a public speech act, even more so when directed as a social utterance to and on behalf of others. Both the projections and the instruments provide participants with the psychological, cultural, technical, and aesthetic means for entering public space as capable communicative agents who, with preparation, can master the art of speaking in public. The process of creation begins with a preparatory video recording that is integral to the project’s development.
