Endowment
2024
11:05 (M:S)
Video

An American university's role in developing chemical and biological weapons used in the Vietnam War is uncovered through a speech performed in the present-day and written from the perspective of 1966. The speech narrates the archives of the University of Pennsylvania at the height of campus protests against the Vietnam War and the University’s involvement in the War through its secretive weapons laboratory, the Institute for Cooperative Research. The video oscillates between the historical, the contemporary, and the speculative to bring forward a haunting resonance with the present-day campus and bureaucratic operations of the University. Critically, the speech was performed on December 4th, 2024, at an official University town hall meeting for students and faculty to voice concern to the University’s executive leadership.

Punctuating the speech are images from the University archives that depict the site of the weapons laboratory since the Vietnam War, as well as a composite image of human skin across various generations of people in Vietnam who were afflicted by biological and chemical weapons used during the Vietnam War.

Camera: S.K. and A.S.

Research Assistance: T. H.

Special Thanks: CAMP Studio, David Hartt, Nippun Kottage, Dylan Li, Ambika Trasi, Nora Wang, Virginia Herbert, and Sharon Hayes.

With research and images sourced from:

War Remnants Museum
28 Vo Van Tan
District 3
Ho Chi Minh City
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

First Floor

Gallery: Aggression War Crimes

Second Floor

Gallery: Vietnam - War and Peace
Gallery: Historical Truths
Gallery: Agent Orange In The War

University Archives and Records Center
University of Pennsylvania
3401 Market Street, Suite 210
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States of America

UPB 144:001 Institute for Cooperative Research Records

Folder: 10-11-1965 to 4-26-1966
Folder: 5-20-66 to 12-3-66
Folder: 12-5-66 to 2-27-67
Folder: 5-2-67 to 8-1-67

UPF 8.5 University Relations, News and Public Affairs Records

Folder: News Bureau--Subject Files Institute For Cooperative Research 1
Folder: News Bureau--Subject Files Institute For Cooperative Research 2

UPA 4 Office of the President Records, Gaylord Harnwell Administration

Folder: Projects Spice Rack and Summit UC Science Center 1965 - 1970

UPX 12 University Photograph Collection

Folder: Building Series Annenberg Collection