(un)bias is a project commissioned by SISTA, a French non-profit organization created in 2018 by Tatiana Jama, Céline Lazorthes, Valentine De Lasteyrie, Roxanne Varza and Raphaëlle Martin-Neuville.
The organization’s mission is to bridge funding gap between male and female entrepreneurs, to help nurture a generation of diverse leaders and makers throughout industries. SISTA is looking to launch a mutant project, temporarily named (un)bias, in collaboration with the CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research). The project is a mutant initiative, lying at the crossroads of an art installation, a sensitizing campaign and a scientific experiment. More concretely, (un)bias is an inflatable installation meant host a series of cognitive bias-related tests, meant to measure the visitors’ implicit biases around a range of different subjects (such as leadership and merit), towards gender and cultural spectrums. The test aims at highlighting the cognitive biases which act as the cornerstones of systemic discrimination within our societies. As the visitors enter the (un)bias bubble in pairs, they will be invited to sit at a screen and individually take a 10 minute long test (Harvard Implicit Association Test, put together supervised by the CNRS). After the test, the visitors are invited to exit the immersive experience with their printed results. The installation is meant to be shown in a series of cultural events and institutions. At each show a minimum of 100 responses will be set to be collected and the data set will be analyzed by the CNRS, who will, in turn, publish a subsequent scientific paper.
A single or double membrane inflatable installation of a capacity of 2 sited people (≈ 3-15 m2), designed in accordance with French safety standards and meant for both cultural, technological events, as well as a range of institutions and exhibition spaces. The 2023 installation was designed in collaboration with Yena Young (Plastique Fantastique) and Tnéo Brice, A lyon-based light artist.
The installation is meant to be shown is a series of events as an immersive and interactive sensitizing campaign, meant to raise awareness on the subject of gender and race bias.
At each of (un)bias exhibitions a (minimum) sample of 100 visitors will be invited to subject themselves to an IAT (Harvard Implicit Association) test, under the direction and supervision of the CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research). After each show the CNRS will receive and analyze the collected data and produce a scientific publication.