Traces

Traces considers the markings, echoes, or remnants that record the fleeting existence of an event, thing, or person. In most cases, the traces we value are those that can be verified and validated, and thereby formally documented within established systems of legitimization. With recent advances in artificial intelligence especially, what was previously considered to be evidence can no longer evade our rightful caution and suspicion. A photograph, for example, cannot automatically be assumed to be a factual and objective documentation of a live event—and now neither can a voice recording, video, or signature. Under this crisis of truth, we must reevaluate and reconsider what traces we can trust and what knowledge we can depend on.

Some of the questions we will ask: What can previously overlooked traces tell us about past people, places, things, and events? What new forms of knowledge can be produced by paying attention to those traces that we previously looked past? How must we rethink the representation we trust to hold truth in the current age of falsification? What new literacies must we develop to become more attuned to the latent yet unseen traces around us? Does every object, event, or person leave a trace? How can we learn to see the unseen? Can knowledge about the traces left behind be more impactful than knowledge about the thing itself? How can we become more aware of the traces we leave behind, whether they are social, emotional, environmental, ecological, etc?

This Salon took place on September 19, 2023