Petri Dish Deceptions: A Search for 100% Veracity in Rimini Protokoll’s Statistical Portrait of Montreal

Abstract

In the wake of 2016—the year of ‘post-truth’ and ‘fake facts’—Rimini Protokoll’s participatory theatre work, 100% Montréal, attempted to reveal what the city’s census data had failed to capture about the lives of its citizens. This article examines how their theatrical juxtaposition of a city’s demographic data with the onstage testimonies of 100 residents reveals important underlying factors that have plagued the pursuit of accuracy in census-taking throughout history. In doing so, 100% Montreal effectively stages the conditions under which contemporary definitions of ‘truth’ become increasingly mutable and elusive, while underscoring the extent to which the public disclosure of accurate and truthful testimony relies on a trustworthy culture of respect and privacy protection between the surveyors and the surveyed.