Investigative Commons

In response to the rise of the neo-fascist “post-truth” epistemology societies have desperately clung to the traditional pillars of power-knowledge – state institutions, legal systems and the police. But how should civil society react when those institutions themselves are responsible for crimes and cover-ups?

This exhibition showcases a new model for collaborative truth-production and investigative aesthetics, bringing together open source investigation, “counter-forensics” and strategic human rights litigation. Combining the situated knowledge of victims of violence and dispossession with the toolkits of investigative reporters, whistleblowers, activists, lawyers, scientists, artists, architects and cultural institutions, the exhibition presents human rights casework that confronts urgent contemporary issues: racist policing and border regimes, cyber-surveillance, environmental violence, and colonial legacies.

This exhibition and accompanying program mark the launch of Investigative Commons, an interdisciplinary practice initiated by Forensic Architecture and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in collaboration with Bellingcat, Praxis Films, Mnemonic (host of Syrian Archive) and HKW. Further, they introduce FORENSIS, a new Berlin-based association founded by Forensic Architecture, and named after its inaugural exhibition at HKW in 2014.

Image credit: Miguel Brusch