In Search of the Truth


In Search of the Truth is an interactive project composed of a touring, portable Truth Booth, established in 2011. The initiative is run by The Cause Collective, a collaboration between Cause Collective artists Ryan Alexiev, Hank Willis Thomas and Jim Ricks.
The Truth Booth is 16-foot-tall by 23-foot-wide video booth, shaped like a giant inflatable speech bubble that invites visitors to record videos of themselves completing the sentence, "The truth is...".

History

The project was started in 2011 by artists Ryan Alexiev, Hank Willis Thomas and Jim Ricks. Will Sylvester and Jorge Sanchez have joined he project more recently. In 2011, the project was first shown at the Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland. It debuted in the US during the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA in June 2012.
, 2018
The project toured Afghanistan in 2013 in a partnership with :nl:Free Press Unlimited|Free Press Unlimited, a media development organization based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and 1TV. In 2016, it launched into a 50-state tour of the United States before the 2016 United States presidential election. It has also appeared in South Africa, Australia, and in 2018 toured Mexico from Chiapas to Juarez visiting 20 locations as :es:En Busca de la Verdad|En Busca de la Verdad. The 'Booth', the Mexican videos, and a documentary about the 2018 tour are part of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's exhibition Manifesto: Art x Agency showing 2019 – 20. In Search of the Truth was exhibited as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival in September of 2019 and in October of 2019 the project came to St. Louis and visited Ferguson.