Susan Schuppli
Susan Schuppli is a researcher and artist based in the UK whose work examines material evidence from war and conflict to environmental disasters and climate change. Current work is focused on learning from ice and the politics of cold. Creative projects have been exhibited throughout Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US. She has published widely within the context of media and politics and is author of the book, Material Witness published by MIT Press in 2020.
Schuppli is Professor and Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London where she is also an affiliate artist-researcher and Board Chair of Forensic Architecture. Previously she was Senior Research Fellow and Project Co-ordinator of Forensic Architecture. Prior to working in the UK she was an Associate Professor in visual/media arts in Canada. Schuppli received her PhD from Goldsmiths and participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program after completing her MFA at the University of California San Diego. She is the recipient of the 2016 ICP Infinity Award.
My earlier work as an artist-researcher and writer explored material evidence, specifically the ways in which non-human witnesses, enter into trials and tribunals to testify to historical events, in particular those involving political violence, ethnic conflict, and war crimes. This work assumed many different modes of communication from legal analysis and public advocacy to theoretical reflection and creative exploration. Current research and artistic production expands these investigations to examine how environmental systems and the transformations brought about by global warming are generating new forms of evidence; creating, in effect, a planetary archive of material witnesses.
“The ecological is a sensability.”
Interview with Ricky Ruihong Li