Whitney Biennial 2019

Floor 6

Founded 2010 in London, United Kingdom

Founded by Israeli-British architect Eyal Weizman as part of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, Forensic Architecture (FA) is an independent research collaborative that investigates contemporary political conflicts, police violence, and human-rights violations. Employing architects, software developers, filmmakers, and artists, FA collects, reorganizes, and interprets public-domain data as a way to address what they understand to be abuses of power and their physical traces. Their work has been featured in international art and architecture exhibitions.                 

For their new investigation, FA trained an Artificial Intelligence algorithm known as a machine learning classifier to search for open-source images of the Triple-Chaser, a tear gas canister manufactured by Defense Technology, a subsidiary of the Safariland Group. By searching online photographs and civilian camera footage, the classifier was able to detect and localize the use of this grenade across various countries in North and South America, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Beginning in June, additional FA videos will be screened as part of the Biennial. They present topics including right-wing extremist violence against immigrants in Germany, the Mexican government’s complicity in mass kidnappings by drug lords, and the assassination of a Kurdish human-rights lawyer and activist in Turkey.