Short Course in Forensic Architecture: Forensic Aesthetics

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As part of the exhibition Counter Investigations, Forensic Architecture leads five seminars organized around key concepts that underpin the agency's work, adding up to a short course in forensic architecture. These seminars take place in the ICA gallery spaces, within and around the investigations on display. Whereas these investigations were produced for presentation in juridical and political forums, the seminars gather an alternative forum in which the same evidence is interrogated theoretically and historically

Special multibuy offer
All five Forensic Architecture Short courses for £20/£18 concessions/£12 ICA Members

All are welcome to join these seminars, but we encourage people to attend all or a number of sessions where possible. Space is limited, so please register early  

Please note that this Short Course takes place from 2-5pm in the Lower Gallery and continues from 5-6:30pm in Cinema 2

The seminar on 'forensic aesthetics' critically interrogates the investigative use of aesthetic practices. The term 'aesthetics'—and 'political aesthetics' more specifically—has been widely problematised in the context of art theory. However, aesthetics encapsulates wider conditions outside of the field of art and touches upon forensic operations in different ways – from the way materials receive and store the results of physical forces, to the way data is processed in the laboratory, to the modes and means by which evidence is presented and made public. How can aesthetic practitioners—architects, artists, photographers, filmmakers—engage in evidence production? What are the problems involved? And what are the implications of forensic investigations being presented in cultural institutions?  

Members of Forensic Architecture introduce the concept of forensic aesthetics, in relation to investigations including Drone Strike in Miranshah, The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Abu Daher and The Left-to-Die Boat.  

Invited participants—including writer and artist Ayesha Hameed, photographer Miki Kratsman, documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi and artist and researcher Susan Schuppli—will respond to and offer insights on the investigations and the concepts raised.  

Following the seminar, members of Forensic Architecture lead a practice-based workshop on 'synchronisation' – the practice of composing a narrative by looking at, listening to and combining media sources.   

Image caption: Audio analysis of the sonic signature of live ammunition fired through a ‘rubber bullet’ extension, conducted during the investigation into the killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Abu Daher in Beitunia, Palestine in 2014. Forensic Architecture and Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2015

The Short Course in Forensic Architecture is organised in partnership with the MA Studio in Forensic Architecture, Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London, led by Susan Schuppli and Lorenzo Pezzani. The practice-based workshops are organised by Christina Varvia