Architecture and the index: McKenzie Wark on Eyal Weizman and Forensic Architecture

2015-11-09T16:38:00-05:00

Besides the thing itself, architecture concerns itself with two kinds of sign about it: iconic signs and symbols. Iconic signs resemble the thing itself. They are the plans and elevations and isometrics. The more symbolic architecture is that of language, the word, the logo and so forth. The postmodern turn shifted the emphasis from the iconic to the symbolic. I think [Eyal] Weizman has created an architecture about a whole other kind of sign – the index.

"Indexical signs are traces of events: where there is smoke there is fire. The smoke does not resemble the fire. It is not an icon. Nor does it have a code like a symbolic sign system. Forensics is a matter of working backwards from the index to the event of which it is the sign, like in a detective story. A forensic architecture takes as its subject events that happen or don’t happen in build space, including the destruction of built space."

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2011-07-15T11:12:35-04:00

Post Post is a new online project focused on exploring the dialog of relational contexts within architectural projects and practices. By extending the lens beyond the individual scope of projects, Post Post seeks to illuminate the interwoven and complex relationships of congruous trajectories within contemporary architectural practice. Post Post looks forward to furthering this pursuit with an active community of user-submitted content.

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Architecture and the index: McKenzie Wark on Eyal Weizman and Forensic Architecture

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