Caat#3: Violence at EU’s Borders: A Talk with Forensic Architecture

Date: 01/07/2029

CAAT is new series of online-streamed ‘collective activist artist talks’ via fakultaetnull.org (an initiative of Interflugs).

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Violence at EU’s Borders: Architectural Evidence as a Tool for Social Justice

A talk with Dimitra Andritsou from Forensic Architecture

moderation: Doruk Çiftçi

01 July 2020 @ 7.30pm – 9pm

The talk begins @ 7.30pm followed by discussion/ q&a: via Fakultät Null website
https://fakultaetnull.org/

Dimitra Andritsou, researcher at Forensic Architecture, joins the Fakultät Null platform to share the agency’s work on different investigations into issues of migration and border violence.

The talk will depart with a focus on the recent investigation ‘The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar’, in order to expand to other projects that were developed by the agency and collaborating groups at the land border between Greece and Turkey – the Evros/Meriç river. The violent escalation in March 2020, when the killing of Muhammad Gulzar occurred at the main border crossing, is framed within a larger systemic condition of violence and illegitimate practices at the border, which are often obscure but consequential in shaping its militarization.

Dimitra will share the multiple investigative methodologies employed (fieldwork, geolocation, OSINT, 3D modelling, as well as situated testimony) and the different connections and networks activated around each investigation (witnesses, human rights groups, legal action groups, open source investigators, journalists).This diverse spectrum of actors and practices involved provides insight into how novel modes of engagement in social justice struggles emerge, and how can we rethink the tools and networks we have access to every day as potentially imperative for taking care of one another in our defense of human rights and demands for accountability.

Dimitra Andritsou is an architect and researcher based in London. She graduated in 2017 from the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 2019 she completed with distinction the MA in Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work at the Centre for Research Architecture revolved around spatial politics of migration and bordering, focusing on the reiterative emergence of fire at migrant encampments in Greece (see more here: https://smouldering-grounds.com/). Since October 2019, Dimitra works at Forensic Architecture, employing 3d modelling and digital representations alongside preparation for novel testimonial and evidentiary techniques.

Doruk Çiftçi is a licensed architect in Istanbul since 2015. He’s been working as a versatile production designer/manager with over 5 years of international experience in temporary structures, events and cultural productions. Besides his professional work, he’s been researching “Representation of Time and Performance in Architecture” as a graduate student with the dean’s scholarship in Istanbul Bilgi University, where he also taught undergraduate interior design studio for two years before his start at TU-Bühnenbild.

For further information on the project: ‘The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar’

https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar

Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Forensic Architecture undertakes advanced spatial and media investigations into cases of human rights violations, with and on behalf of communities affected by political violence, human rights organisations, international prosecutors, environmental justice groups, and media organisations.

https://forensic-architecture.org/

For Further Research and Reading related to this discussion of EU Border Violence:

Main investigations on the Evros/Meriç:
The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar
The Killing of Muhammad al-Arab (Preliminary Investigation) https://forensic-architecture.org/programme/news/joint-statement-on-the-ongoing-violence-at-the-greece-turkey-border
Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: The case of Ayşe Erdoğan’https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/pushbacks-across-the-evros-meric-river-the-case-of-ayse-erdogan
Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: Analysis of video evidence https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/pushbacks-across-the-evros-meric-river-analysis-of-video-evidence
Situated Testimony: Poros Detention Facility in Evros/Meriç (Preview, Twitter Thread) https://twitter.com/ForensicArchi/status/1238145328961990657

Relevant Investigations:
Shipwreck at the threshold of Europe, Lesvos, Aegean Sea https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/shipwreck-at-the-threshold-of-europe
The Left-To-Die Boat (Forensic Oceanography) https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-left-to-die-boat
Death By Rescue: The lethal effects of non-assistance at sea (Forensic Oceanography) https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/death-by-rescue-the-lethal-effects-of-non-assistance-at-sea

Articles/Reports:
The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar – Bellingcat https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/05/08/the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar/
Der Todesschuss an Europas Grenze – Der Spiegel https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/grenze-zwischen-griechenland-und-tuerkei-der-todesschuss-fall-muhammad-gulzar-a-75942fba-6caa-429c-9450-1d2251a5d96a
The Killing of a Migrant at the Greek-Turkish Border – Spiegel International https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-9101-a1841a944161
Videos Show Apparent Illegal Pushback of Migrants – Spiegel International https://www.spiegel.de/international/globalsocieties/greece-videos-show-apparent-illegal-pushback-of-migrants-a-1301228.html

AUTONOME STUDENTISCHE VORHABEN AN DER UDK SEIT 1989