Please continue (after Stanley Migram), 2026

Please Continue. The experiment requires that you can continue — an excerpt from a controversial experiment devised by American social psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1961 after following the Adolf Eichmann trial, which found that a high proportion of subjects would fully obey instructions to harm others.

Please continue (after Stanley Milgram) (2026) is the third in a triptych of works engaging conformity experiments, as previous works looked at the impact of peer pressure on opinion in scenarios designed by Polish-American psychologist Solomon Eliot Asch and Soviet psychologist Valeria Mukhina, in which participants often ignored clearly obvious facts to go along with the majority.

The neon gives you pause, an invitation to sit a moment with this disturbing human tendency towards conformity. The evolution of the triptych highlights the progression of fascist tactics, as the Nazi echoes in Milgram’s scenario developed from the earlier experiments’ denial of clear realities.  

from: Anna Jermolaewa You can count on me by Camila M Barshee

***