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The art and science of forensics displayed at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt

March 19th, 2014
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Forensics,  is the scientific method of gathering and examining information about the past. The origin of the term is the Latin word ‘forensis’, meaning legal. Forensis is also the name of an exposition organised at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, or HKW. The science of forensics has changed the way we look at a crime scene, and allows us to solve crimes that may have been impossible to solve decades ago. This implies that forensics can also play a role in which we look at the world in general, and at public issues more specifically. Forensics brings together new technologies, aesthetic practices and architecture, which makes it perfect exposition material.

According to the website “The projects by artists, filmmakers, and architects shown in the exhibition investigate a range of human rights violations, environmental crimes, and man-made and natural disasters in order to reflect on the new - technologically induced - political agency of matter. A broad spectrum of spatial analyses, mappings, and forms of representation are used both to interrogate political issues through forensics and at the same time the very assumption of contemporary forensics.”

American detective series like CSI, CSI Miami and Bones have firmly fixed forensic science in the imagination of the public, and undoubtedly, many people have become curious what forensics is really about. This exposition sheds some light into the workings of this young field of science, while it also displays its artistic value.

For more information, go to http://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2014/forensis/ausstellung_forensis/forensis.php. Website in English and German.