The structure of the public secret is that of an aporia -- an irresolvable internal contradiction. Building on this concept, the three principle branches of navigation in Public Secrets, inside/outside, bare-life/human-life, and public secret/utopia, are structured as aporia. Each aporia frames multiple themes and threads elaborated in clusters of narrative, theory and evidence. Together they explore the space of the prison - physical, economic, political and ideological - and how the space of the prison acts back on the space outside to disrupt and, in effect, undermines the very forms of legality, security and freedom that the prison system purportedly protects.

In the interface the recorded statements made by incarcerated women, and excerpts from theoretical texts are displayed algorithmically in constantly shifting constellations organized by topic, theory and speaker. Instead of imagery, the interface is constructed out of quotes. Each screen or view constitutes a kind of emergent and transient, multi-vocal text. These text/views are framed by animated voice-over narration – in the introduction a piece of anecdotal theory walks the viewer across the boundary between inside and outside, and in the conclusion a voice-over leads to an advocacy tool-kit titled “what you can do”.

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