Sandra Johnston

Beyond Reasonable Doubt: an Investigation of Doubt, Risk and Testimony Through Performance Art Processes in Relation to Systems of Legal Justice (European Studies in Culture and Policy) Sandra Johnston

This book investigates and proposes that the diverse evidence of human rights violations is carried and conveyed through gestures: from the staging of terrorist spectacles, the performances of legal testimony, and acts of protests to responses of survivors existing on the cusp of invisibility and silence. Embodied evidence forms the core of the study, led through performance and installation artworks (the exhibition The Shadow of a Doubt is documented here). Performance art can enrich the interpretation of events through injecting doubt and risk. This does not replace traditional methods of gathering evidence, but can activate otherwise elusive empathic aspects. Art is one of the few evidences demonstrating the possible transformation of pain and fear into constructive forces. (Series: European Studies in Culture and Policy - Vol. 13)