Forensic justice. Space and architecture as advocacy

In Utrecht, an exhibition at BAK unfolds the recent investigations of Forensic Architecture in nine cases of human and environmental rights advocacy.

More and more demonstrations are arising to contest allegations of social irrelevance against architecture and space. More and more evidence, to be precise.

In the framework of the research series “Propositions for Non-Fascist Living” (2017–2020), in fact, BAK (Basis voor Actuele Kunst) is exposing the last results of the action of advocacy and scientific and audiovisual support provided by Forensic Architecture in cases of evident infringement of human and environmental rights.

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, 77sqm_9:26min , 2017, Commissioned by the People's Tribunal 'Unraveling the NSU Complex'; Initiative 6 April; Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW); Documenta 14; the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Center for Contemporary Nature, 2016–ongoing, exhibition opening “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Ape Law, 2016, (part of Center for Contemporary Nature, 2016–ongoing), exhibition opening “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Exhibition Opening, “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Investigation into the Murder of Pavlos Fyssas, 2018, exhibition opening “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Ecocide in Indonesia, 2016-17, (part of Center for Contemporary Nature, 2016–ongoing), in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

The Forensic Architecture team. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Center for Contemporary Nature, 2016–ongoing, exhibition opening “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Exhibition Opening, “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, Investigation into the Murder of Pavlos Fyssas, 2018, exhibition opening “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Photo: Tom Janssen

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, The Iuventa, 18 June 2017 — , in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

Forensic Architecture, M2 Hospital Bombing, in “Forensic Justice”, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2018–2019. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

Forensic Justice

Views and works form the exhibition at BAK Utrecht

The Forensic Architecture team. Courtesy Forensic Architecture

“Forensic Justice” zooms in on a number of recent cases explored by Forensic Architecture, each one articulating evidence-based, space-centered “counter forensics” to dominant interpretations of events.

Rendered from multiple perspectives, the audio-visual installations mobilize what Forensic Architecture refers to as “public truth.” These mobilizations can be understood, as the exhibition proposes, as critical instances of forensic justice. The exhibition involves, on the makeshift background of BAK’s spaces undergoing transformation, two entwined narratives: namely of social and ecological justice.

The first section illustrates, in an archive-like set-up, six cases calling for social justice ranging from the individual (The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammed Abu Daher, 2014), to the sea as theater of migrants’ persecution (The Iuventa, 2018). The set is completed by 77sqm_9:26min, 2017, an investigation into the racist killings of immigrants in Germany in 2000–07, and Investigation into the Murder of Pavlos Fyssas, 2018, inquiring into the complicity of police troops in the assassination of Greek anti-fascist rapper Fyssas, by members of Golden Dawn. The piece, co-produced with BAK, has been presented as crucial evidence in court in Greece this September.

The second narrative line unfolds in a Center for Contemporary Nature, which engages with the relation between culture, politics, and the concept of nature today. No longer a “backdrop” against which human history unfolds, “nature” now transforms at the same speed as human history, racing alongside it in an ever-aggravated feedback loop with consequences that have spiraled out of control.

A public program, Propositions #7: Evidentiary Methods, is connected, focusing on techniques and innovative evidentiary methods at the intersection of law, art, politics, and the changing media landscape employed in the forensic practice, and creating a space for dialogue and exchange between concrete cases examined by Forensic Architecture as well as ongoing political struggles in the Netherlands and beyond.

Exhibition:: Forensic Justice
Curators:: developed through conversations between the BAK team and Forensic Architecture; Nick Axel (public program)
Venue:: BAK basis voor actuele kunst
Address:: Pauwstraat 13a, 3512 TG Utrecht
Opening dates:: Until January 27, 2019

Forensic justice. Space and architecture as advocacy

In Utrecht, an exhibition at BAK unfolds the recent investigations of Forensic Architecture in nine cases of human and environmental rights advocacy.

Forensic Justice

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