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In recent years the little-known research group Forensic Architecture began using novel research methods to undertake a series of investigations into human rights abuses. While providing crucial evidence for international courts and working with a wide range of activist groups, NGOs, Amnesty International and the UN, Forensic Architecture has not only shed new light on human rights violations and state crimes across the globe, it has also given rise to a new form of investigative practice, to which it has given its name. The group uses architecture as a methodological device with which to investigate armed conflicts and environmental destruction, and to cross-reference multiple other evidence sources such as new media, remote sensing, material investigation and witness testimony. This exhibition introduces the practice, outlining its origins, history, assumptions, potential and double binds. With these investigations and the critical texts that accompany them, Forensic Architecture examines how public truth is produced, technologically, architecturally and aesthetically; how it can be used to confront state propaganda and secrets; and how to expose newer forms of state violence.

Exhibition by: Forensic Architecture
Director: Eyal Weizman
Curator: Rosario Güiraldes
Exhibition conceptualization: Eyal Weizman, Rosario Güiraldes, Anselm Franke, Christina Varvia
Forensic Architecture Exhibition team: Rosario Guiraldes (coordinator), Christina Varvia, Samaneh Moafi, Ariel Caine, Hana Rizvanolli
Graphic Design: Other Means

The exhibition is co-produced by MACBA with the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City.

Forensic Architecture team: Christina Varvia, Francesco Sebregondi, Susan Schuppli, (research coordinators), Samaneh Moafi, Stefan Laxness, Hana Rizvanolli, Nick Axel, Jacob Burns, Steffen Krämer, Ana Naomi de Sousa, Ariel Caine, Reiner Beelitz, Samir Harb, Zahra Hussain, Blake Fisher, Shourideh C. Molavi, Gustav A. Toftgaard, Camila E. Sotomayor, Vere Van Gool, Dorette Panagiotopoulou, Rosario Güiraldes, Hania Halabi, Pierre-Francois Gerard, Nestor Rubio, Simone Rowat, George Clipp, Yamen Albadin, Stefanos Levidis, Omar Ferwati, Nichola Czyz, Jason Men, Andrea Rota, Franc Camps-Febrer, Nicholas Masterton, Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, Sarah Nankivell, Nadia Mendez, Ruben Irving Huerta Zapien, Theo Resnikoff, Andrea Rota.

Further works by: Susan Schuppli, Lawrence abu Hamdan, Paulo Tavares, Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani, Hannah Martin, Nabil Ahmed, Giulia Bruno, Jan Kiesswetter, Giuseppe Lelasi, Armin Linke, Alina Schmuch, Hagit Kaisar, Ariel Caine, Thomas Keenan, Ines Weizman, Shela Sheikh, Marim abu Mad’im, Salim al-Tu¯ri, Oren Ziv, Godofredo Pereira.

Collaborators: Jamon Van Den Hoek, Kent Klich, Rossana Padeletti, Sabine Llewellyn, Laure Vermeersch, Ana Naomi de Sousa, Eduardo L. Cadava, Chris Cobb-Smith, Situ Research, Amnesty International, Princeton University, MA in Forensic Architecture /Goldsmiths, University of London, Caroline Sturdy Colls, A Satellite Studio, Grupa Spomenik (Monument Group), Debbie Farber, Umar al-Ghubari /Zochrot, Nouri al-Uqbi, Aziz al-Turi, Sayakh al-Turi /Al Araqib village, Hagit Keysar/Public Lab, Activestills, Public Minister of Brazil, Chris Woods/Airwars, Nuriya Oswald and Mohammed Abdullah /Al Mezan, B’Tselem, Alice Ross, Jack Serle /Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), Edmund Clark, Andreas Schüller /European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Michael Sfard, Emily Schaeffer /Michael Sfard Law Office, Mauricio Corbalan and Pio Torroja/ m7red, Baltasar Garzon and Manuel Vergaras /FIBAR, Watch the Med, Doctors without Borders (MSF), UN Special Rapporteur for Counter Terrorism (UNSRCT), Watch the Med, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt (HKW), ScanLAB Projects, Gaza’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing, DCI-Palestine, Robert Jan van Pelt, Khaled Abdulwahed, Cem Kayan, Vanina Vignal, Sebastian Bodirsky, Frank Bubenwer, Gozen Atila, Cordula Hamschmidt, Grant Waters / Anderson Acoustics, Salvador Navarro-Martinez / Imperial College, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Fritz Laszlo Weber / Citizen Tribunal “Unravelling the NSU Complex”, Ayse Gulec / Documenta 14, Centro Prodh, EAAF.

Funders: European Research Council (ERC); Sigrid Rausing Trust; Centre for Research Architecture, Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London

With the support of:
L'Internationale
Creative Europe

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Images

'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica
'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition views, 2017. Photo: La Fotogràfica

Audios

Guided Tour to the 'Forensic Architecture. Towards an Investigative Aesthetics' exhibition by Anna Cerdà
SON[I]A #207. Eyal Weizman. Deleted scenes
24.08.2015
Son[i]a #207. Eyal Weizman
25.05.2015

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