FRANKFURT. How do we critically engage archives of colonial, historical, political, and racial violence? What modes of counter investigation might be employed? Researchers from Forensic Architecture (London), the project “The Art of Counter-Investigation” (Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt), and the fields of media and film studies will discuss the challenges of archival investigation in the contexts of colonial and political violence. Questions include forensic methods of investigation and counter investigation, aesthetic practices of engaging archives, issues of restitution and reparation, acts of erasure, silencing, and epistemic violence.
The event expands upon the midday Autopsies-conversation between Hans Peter Hahn (Ethnology) and Aïsha Othmann (Goethe University Library) on Frankfurt University Library’s Koloniales Bildarchiv.
Audience members are asked to screen in advance Forensic Architecture’s project video, freely available here:
https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/swakopmund
The public event takes place on
Wednesday July 2, 2025, 6:15 - 7:45 pm,
Lecture Hall Center, Room HZ 9,
Campus Westend, Goethe University Frankfurt.
Admission is free.
Roundtable Participants:
Agata Nguyen Chuong (she/her) is an advanced researcher at Forensic Architecture and project lead of FA’s research into the Ovaherero and Nama genocide.
Laliv Melamed is professor of digital film culture at Goethe University, Frankfurt. She received her PhD from New York University and specializes in documentary and non-fiction film and media. She is the author of Sovereign Intimacy: Private Media and the Traces of Colonial Violence (University of California Press, 2023).
Felix Trautmann is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Social Research and currently works in the research project “The Art of the Counter-Investigation” (IfS Frankfurt and HfG Offenbach) on artistic investigations of right-wing violence in contemporary Germany.
Franziska Wildt is a research associate at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt. She co-directs the Working Group “Aesthetics and Media Cultures”.
The series “Autopsies” (etymologically: “to see with one’s own eyes”) examines sources and objects from Frankfurt University Library’s special collections, primarily through critical first-hand observation. Collection curators engage with humanities scholars in a series of conversations that highlight intersecting research questions between scholars in the humanities and the curators of Frankfurt Library’s collections. Frankfurt University Library houses a large holding of historical materials and unique pieces. These include medieval to modern manuscripts, archival materials and estates, as well as non-textual materials such as image collections.