Events
Genevieve Goffman | Do You Believe in the Bystander Effect?
- 6:00pm–8:00pm Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Do You Believe in the Bystander Effect?
Genevieve Goffman
On display: September 7-29 2016
Opening reception: Wednesday September 7 6-8 pm
Do You Believe in the Bystander Effect? is the presentation of a small body of research. On the surface, it is a catalogue of the jumbled information available on the tragic and tragically misreported murder of Kitty Genovese, one that attempts in particular to trace the interlaced vines of convoluted racism, homophobia, gendered violence, fear and shame that shape the story.
The murder of Kitty Genovese laid the ground work for an entire school of psychological thought, and goaded the state into the creation of the 911 emergency call line, further cementing the mentality that ascribes public safety purely to state intervention. Although Do You Believe in the Bystander Effect? is nominally a question, it is not a project focused on the clear exchange of information between artist and audience. It hopes to be a forceful argument against reliance on the state, which is often the root of the fear and misinformation that prevents bystander from acting.
Genevieve Goffman is an artist living in Portland, OR. She graduated from Reed College, and her work has been shown in S1, The Melanie Flood Project, and HQHQ.
Much of her work involves the finding and reorganizing of fragments, in the hopes of comparing the stories that are remembered to those that fall through the cracks.