Before and After

The contemporary prevalence of before-and-after images shapes our perception of the world. It certainly opens up a new dimension in shifting our attention from the representation of the human agent to representations of territories and architecture, which also turns spatial analysis into an essential political tool.

Andrew Herscher, ‘Envisioning Exception

Andrew Herscher, ‘Envisioning Exception, Satellite Imagery, Human Rights Advocacy, and Techno-Moral Witnessing’, lecture at the Centre for Research Architecture, 4 March 2013. Herscher’s lecture, although delivered too late to be referred to in this piece in more detail, has been instrumental in the edit. It was included in a series of seminars on satellite imagery titled ‘Sensing Injustice’ that Susan Schuppli has organised in the context of the Forensic Architecture project. Other contributions to this series have been helpful in shaping this essay, including Lars Bromley’s contribution, on 27 November 2012; John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog’s, on 29 January 2013; and of course, Laura Kurgan’s Close up at a Distance, 19 April 2013. More information on the series is available at http://www.forensic-architecture.org/seminars/sensing-injustice/.