Forensic Architecture : the contemporary art of investigation

Radio Lab

Recently nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize, the data architects at Forensic Architecture have developed new investigative methods that simultaneously draw on art, cutting-edge technology, topography and architecture. Founded in 2001, this team of activists are reinventing the art of investigation, including by reconstructing crime scenes in order to defend human rights and to bring the abusive actions of certain States to light. In 2018, they uncovered the involvement of the Greek police in the murder of Pávlos Fýssas. A rapper on the alternative hip-hop scene in Athens and an anti-fascist militant, Pávlos was murdered on 18 September 2013 in Keratsíni, in the suburbs of the Greek capital. The authorities were quick to accuse neo-nazi political party Golden Dawn, imprisoning several of its members in relation to the crime. However, Forensic Architecture pursued the inquiry by meticulously synchronising and timestamping all the audio and visual materials that had been presented before the court (including radio recordings, video footage and witness statements). By doing so, they were able to demonstrate the passivity of the police in allowing a murder to take place that could have been avoided. Through a case study of the Pávlos Fýssas investigation, and thanks to contributions from other anti-Golden Dawn activists, this sequence aims to shed light on the pioneering investigative methods employed by Forensic Architecture. With Stefanos Levidis (Forensic Architecture), Electra Alexandropoulou (Golden Dawn Watch) and Despina Trivolis (Journalist)