In the 2020s, the rights and responsibilities of American citizens have been contested as never before. Amid fraught elections, Black Lives Matter protests, and a global pandemic, our nation has become roiled in debate over what America is and who has access to the rights its people proclaim. Evolving interpretations of the Constitution both reflect and escalate tensions in a rapidly changing world, affecting everything from the fabric of American society to our survival as individuals and even as a species.  

Shall Make, Shall Be is a curatorial project in which ten artists and eleven legal scholars explore the meaning and impact of the Bill of Rights. Developed with production support from the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, Shall Make, Shall Be shares ten artworks and essays that provide a space to consider identity and life inside the American experiment and their foundations in these ten amendments. Throughout this catalog for the exhibition, readers can explore the games and interactive artwork with up close images and illuminating text from the artists and scholars involved.   

Shall Make, Shall Be demonstrates how our laws and cultural norms don’t always lead to the outcomes we hope for. The thought-provoking works and essays within help us see new paths forward to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

Artists: arts.codes (Melissa F. Clarke and Margaret Schedel), Peter Bradley, Danielle Isadora Butler, Arnab Chakravarty, Moaw!, and Ian McNeely, Cherisse Santa Cruz Datu and Latoya Peterson, Ryan Kuo, Andy Malone, Shawn Pierre, Vi Trinh, Lexa Walsh  

Scholars: Deborah Archer, Monica C. Bell, Jennifer Carlson, Erwin Chemerinsky, Jessica M. Eaglin, Keramet Reiter, Sharon E. Rush, Michael Shammas, Nabiha Syed, Suja A. Thomas, Alexander Zhang  

Project Team: R. Luke DuBois, Laine Nooney, John Sharp