In Search of the Truth is an international, interactive public art project of a touring, inflatable recording booth called 'The Truth Booth'. The Booth is a 16-foot-tall by 23-foot-wide

speech bubble Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...

that permits visitors to record videos of themselves completing the sentence, "The truth is...". It was established in 2011 as a collaboration between Ryan Alexiev,

Hank Willis Thomas Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture. Early life and education Hank Willis Th ...

and

Jim Ricks Jim Ricks is an American and Irish conceptual artist, writer, and curator. He has exhibited throughout Ireland and internationally, including a number of public art projects. Early life and education Ricks was born in San Francisco, California ...

History

The project was started in 2011 by artists Ryan Alexiev,

and

. Will Sylvester and, now deceased

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

organizer, Jorge Sanchez had joined the project more recently. All are members of the

artist collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the need ...

Cause Collective. In 2011, the project was first shown at the

Galway International Arts Festival The Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF), founded in 1978, is a cultural organization that produces an annual arts festival in Galway, Ireland. It also produces new work that tours nationally and internationally, in addition to presenting ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It debuted in the US during the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

, VA in June 2012. The project toured

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 2013 in a partnership with Free Press Unlimited, a media development organization based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and

1TV (Afghan TV channel) 1TV ( fa, تلویزیون یک; ps, يک تلويزيون) is an Afghanistan, Afghan privately owned commercial television channel, launched in February 2010. It is owned by Fahim Hashimy, and is the largest operating unit of groupOne Media, ...

. In 2016, it launched a 50-state tour of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

before the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

. It has also appeared in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and in 2018 toured

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

from Chiapas to Juarez visiting 20 locations under the name: En Busca de la Verdad. The 'Booth', the Mexican videos, and a documentary about the 2018 tour are part of the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

's exhibition ''Manifesto: Art x Agency'' showing 2019 – 20. ''In Search of the Truth'' was exhibited as part of the

Melbourne Fringe Festival The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...

in September of 2019 and in October of 2019 the project came to St. Louis and visited Ferguson.

References

External links

Official website

on ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''
Interview in Smithsonian Magazine with Jim Ricks and Jorge Sanchez, 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:In Search of the Truth Interactive art Projects established in 2011 Public art

History

See also

References

External links