1

Sensitive Communication

theory

The methodology offered in this guide was primarily developed as a set of tools for working in an exhibition format with academic research based on ethically complex topics. We call such topics sensitive.

Sensitive topics touch upon the realm of personal or collective, but always painful, experience, and are often difficult to perceive and cover in the public space. Such topics can have ambiguous, contradictory interpretations that cause tension or even sharp conflicts.
The consequences of working with a sensitive topic can affect the feelings, rights, and in some cases even the lives of people.

As soon as we designate a high degree of responsibility for all project participants, we must immediately talk about the risks that can arise at any stage of the work—from preparation to launch.

Let’s note an important feature of this guide right away—we will refer to all people involved in the life of the project as project participants: protagonists, authors, and viewers.

participants — all people involved in the life of the project: protagonists, authors, viewers.

At the moment of choosing a topic and deciding to start a project, it is important to calculate and imagine all scenarios for the project’s development and its possible consequences — both at the content development stage and after the project’s publication.

1.1

Defining Communication

The guide’s methodology is based on the author’s interpretation of Lasswell’s model of communication, which includes 5 main elements. These also form the 5 main questions of project design:

• Who says (communicator).
• What (message).
• To whom (audience).
• How (channel).
• Why (with what effect).

We proceed from the assumption that an exhibition is not only an artistic statement but also a complex communicative product. The underlying research endows the exhibition with the function of transferring knowledge or even the function of transferring an attitude towards the subject area and the topic addressed. The creators form value-based messages; the messages take shape—in the form of audiovisual, textual, architectural media—and through this form, they enter into a dialogue with the viewers. The viewers, in turn, go through the reverse process of deciphering the original messages. The result should be a dialogue.

The complexity lies in the fact that only the viewers are physically present in this dialogue, and their interlocutors are not the authors directly, but the elements of the exhibition. This signifies the first communicative barrier and the potential for distortion, placing a greater responsibility on the form of presenting the research (interpretation, representation, direction) for the purity of the concept and the clarity of reflecting the initial data.

The second level of obstacles in this dialogue is ethical limitations. The likelihood of multiple interpretations entering into tense opposition with each other, as well as the potential vulnerability of the participants, complicates the process of delivering and perceiving the original messages.

In designing an exhibition, our task is not just to present the vision of the research group, but to create an opportunity for dialogue on a complex topic. Therefore, in developing the exhibition, we face an additional task—to present the entire spectrum of possible ethical risks and try to account for them.

1.2

Gradients of Ethics

In the ancient Greek understanding, the word "ethics" meant the ability of people to coexist peacefully with one another. Emotional and psychological restraint was considered the key to this peaceful coexistence. The non-manifestation of individuality defined a neutral and safe space for the community.

Over time, the understanding of a safe public space has become significantly more complex. Modern metropolitan culture offers us the opposite concept of a comfortable and fulfilling existence in society—a strategy of maximum manifestation. We now observe many practices aimed at manifesting personality and developing identity. Added to this is the context of the global digital universe, in which the public sphere blurs to intangible boundaries.

In the global information space, features of invisibility of sources, integrity of big data, and a variety of tools for their transformation paradoxically coexist.

Parallel streams—the dissemination and presence of information in multiple parallel streams.

1

2

3

Social habits

Diversity of media—diversification of sources from which we receive data: from personal to public, from amateur to professional, from environmental to digital.

Information ethics

4

6

Technologies (and habits associated with them)

Culture of attitude towards information

1.2.1

5

Thus, the sheer diversity of ways we can receive, interpret, and use information does not allow us to uniquely define the features of a flawless and unified ethical approach. We can only outline general categories that contribute to raising the level of ethics in our exhibition products.

Understanding the cultural context

1

2

3

Understanding the historical context

Awareness of all possible interpretations of the topic

Allowing for a multiplicity of viewpoints

1.2.2

4

example

"Isabella", Simon Maris, c. 1906

In 2018, leading museums in the Netherlands, notably the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, began a large-scale reform, revising the titles and descriptions of artworks. The goal was to eliminate outdated, racist, and derogatory terms from the colonial past, making the labels more inclusive, accurate, and respectful.

A striking example of this transformation is a painting by Simon Maris from the early 1900s. Its original title, "Young Negro Girl," was first changed to "Young Girl with a Fan," and then, after additional research in the artist’s archives, to "Isabella." This case perfectly demonstrates the path of decolonial practices in the museum: from depersonalizing, racist formulations to individual titles that restore the dignity of those depicted.

theory

The authors of this guide are convinced that most of these categories are of a local cultural, political, and historical nature. Therefore, we propose to also introduce subjective personal categories which, it seems to us, contribute to ethical integrity in project design.

Openness — a motivated readiness to learn new things.

1

2

Empathy — the ability to see and share the feelings of another person or even to experience their emotional state.

3

1.2.3

Tolerance — the ability to see and accept the existence of diverse forms of social, spiritual, and cultural manifestations of life.

1.3

Risks for Project Participants

The concept of ethics ultimately comes down to the safety and non-vulnerability of specific individuals or groups. Therefore, we will try to fragment possible ethical risks from the perspective of the types of project participants.

Violation of personal space boundaries.

1

2

3

The visualization of traumatic experience can lead to secondary psychological trauma—both during participation in the project and after its completion.

The publication of personal experiences, especially those related to violence, may be undesirable or painful for the protagonist’s close circle and affect relationships between people. Anonymity does not always solve this problem.

The possibility of political persecution or other forms of discrimination due to a publicly presented position or information shared by the protagonist.

4

1.3.1

When working with conflict-related topics, there is a risk of unintentionally ignoring alternative viewpoints or failing to consider the full scope of circumstances.

3

1

2

4

5

When covering topics related to cruelty and aggression, there is a danger of unintentionally enhancing their significance or even contributing to their normalization in public perception.

Like the protagonists of projects, the authors themselves can be subjected to political pressure, repression, or other forms of discrimination.

Authors may, without realizing it, take the side of one of the conflicting parties and appear as its defenders or bearers of the "only true" point of view.

In the case of sensitive topics, it is very difficult to predict the scale of resonance from a publication—it can have an unpredictable nature and consequences.

1.3.2

example

"An image of terrorism should not be photo of the year — I voted against it."

"I am concerned that by awarding the top prize and thus creating additional fame, we are amplifying the terrorist's ideas."

Стюарт Франклин

Let’s recall the controversial episode related to World Press Photo 2017. In the spot news category, the winning photograph depicted the assassination of the Russian ambassador at an art gallery opening in Ankara. This same photograph was also named photo of the year. The jury chair, Stuart Franklin, was against this decision and initiated a discussion that grew into a heated debate within the professional community. He expressed concern that if the world’s leading reportage photography competition chooses an image of violence as "photo of the year," it could be equated to a manifestation of the normality of murder. Franklin also emphasized that the circle of authoritative professionals in any field bears responsibility for shaping norms and ideals in the public space.

theory

Having experienced excessive agitation from the material, may distance themselves from the topic or even feel revulsion towards it, and as a consequence, an unwillingness to show empathy, participation, and assistance;

1

2

In some cases, under the influence of severe shock, may experience something akin to "Stockholm syndrome" — siding with violence, thus exhibiting a form of defense mechanism.

1.3.3

ram case

Deep Inside

What we did to reduce risks for visitors of the shopping center in the "Deep Inside" project:

• we played along with the shopping center’s atmosphere in the installation’s architecture and made it look like a mysterious pavilion;
• we created a contrast between the installation and the stores by using the color black, dim lighting, and a special soundscape inside the installation;
• in representing the life of the residential institution, we did not abandon the documentary genre, but focused on the theme of people’s inner world, which allowed us to create a sense of community with the viewers through a special poetics of perceiving such a world.

Use the scrollbar to read the case

In 2016, we conducted a research and created the exhibition "Deep Inside" about the residents of a psychoneurological residential institution at the request of the "Perspektivy" charitable foundation. We were tasked with making the existence of closed-type institutions visible in the public space. Besides the fact that the topic of psychoneurological residential institutions itself was little noticed in the public sphere, the institution itself was located in a forest, far from human eyes. Almost immediately, the team and I had an idea: this invisible and undesirable thing needed to be shown in the most crowded and desirable place—in the largest shopping center in St. Petersburg. We created an installation about the lives of adults living in the residential institution—on the first floor of the shopping center, in the most high-traffic area, next to a perfume hypermarket.

On the one hand, this contrast was important for us — to create surprise, to encourage people who came for shopping and pleasure to encounter a side of life for which they have no demand. On the other hand, our task was not to repel these people, not to cause rejection, but, on the contrary — to awaken empathy and a desire to help. We had to work not only with the obvious ethical risk of the project’s protagonists, but also with the potential vulnerability of the shopping center visitors, among whom were children. The spontaneous flow of people in a public space can provoke diverse, unpredictable reactions and interpretations.

theory

When talking about sensitive topics, we touch upon the vulnerable area of human rights. But, according to what we stated above, the rights of project participants are the rights not only of the protagonists, but also of the authors themselves, and of future viewers.

We really want to convey to the readers of this guide the understanding that a project is an indivisible space of values. Therefore, every part of the project—the collection of material, the process of its development, or the final publication—should not cause harm, violate ethics, or offend the feelings of any person involved in it.

An important internal criterion and a clue in ethical matters is the balance of resources and effects: are our actions and their consequences commensurate with the results we plan to achieve? We will talk in detail about the effects of the project in the next chapter.

method

In the exhibition, we used these questions as an epilogue and prologue to each chapter, giving the viewer the opportunity to feel the weight and responsibility of the researchers in working with the topic, as well as to share the understanding that it is sometimes impossible to give an unequivocal answer.

In the beginning of our work with the researchers, we started from the SWOT analysis method, in which the participants examined their research field from four perspectives: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

During the discussion, it became clear that some weaknesses and threats were irresolvable and related to doubts of an ethical nature—in other words, they represented project constants: more like filters and beacons than questions that could be answered unequivocally.

1

2

4

3

7

8

9

6

5