Conference: “On the trail of the facts: investigative architecture and post-truth”

On April 6, 2023, the Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture invited INDEX founder Francesco Sebregondi for a conference on the emerging field of “investigative architecture.” The video recording of the conference is now available.

Synopsis

Since 2010, the Forensic Architecture research project has been exploring how space architecture and technology can be used to investigate human rights violations, armed conflicts and environmental crimes. Over the course of its investigations, new investigative techniques have emerged through the use of images, data and the space in which they circulate; even as this space accelerated its expansion, due to the recent popularization of smartphones and social networks. From this experience of an investigative architecture have emerged today a series of local and specialized structures – such as the independent expertise agency INDEX, which investigates cases of police violence in France – linked together within an international network (Investigative Commons).

Through the commented presentation of a selection of projects, the conference seeks to highlight the role of architecture as an instrument of resistance to the challenges of post-truth and institutional denial, and therefore as a vector of (re)construction of a common social space in the era of digital mediations.