Matt McCluskey
An 'Absolute' Truth?
Long Section
An Institute of Political Objectivity as a critique of the proliferation of misinformation within society; an exemplar which seeks to restore trust in political figures by holding them to account.
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“Public Truths are precious collective achievements arrived at through sifting of alternative interpretations based on careful observation, argument and painstaking deliberation by trustworthy experts”
- Sheila Jasanoff, ‘Back from the Brink:Truth and Trust in the Public Sphere’
In a near and not implausible future where society’s descent into a maelstrom of misinformation has obliterated the boundary between fact and fiction, an Institute of Political Objectivity is proposed as a global exemplar in Antwerp. The international outcry against King Leopold II’s abhorrent reign over the Congo Free State is the genesis of the proposal’s objectives: the holding of political parties and institutions to account, and the promotion of objectivity within the global political system through dialectic teaching, active discourse, and procedural transparency.
Discrete yet intrinsically linked volumes facilitate dialectics, discussion, and the pursuit of objective truth through the examination of all hypotheses, as asserted in Plato’s Analogy of the Divided Line. Accommodation for visiting experts, Galleries and Exhibition Spaces, and Formal Debate spaces facilitate discourse at various scales while a subterranean, digital archive holds a record of all events within the building, accessible by anyone who seeks objective information on a given subject, topic, or event.