Recap of Nieuwe Instituut x Forensic Architecture: Presenting Counter-ForensicsRecap of Nieuwe Instituut x Forensic Architecture: Presenting Counter-Forensics

As part of the ongoing collaboration between the Nieuwe Instituut and Forensic Architecture, two Research Nights were organised at the Nieuwe Instituut. The first, Evidencing the Police Killing of Sammy Baker, took place on 25 April 2024. Featuring speakers from Forensic Architecture and Forensis, it examined the ethical and conceptual frameworks of counter-forensic investigations, exploring how designers and spatial practitioners can address systemic state abuse, including police violence.

The second event, Counter-Forensics: Responding to Police Violence, took place on 24 April 2025. Guest speakers from Forensic Architecture, Forensis, INDEX, Controle Alt Delete and other partners presented their research, with a particular focus on Sammy Baker’s death at the hands of the Dutch police in 2020. A key speaker was Justine Seewald, Sammy’s mother, who shared her family’s traumatic experiences with the Dutch police.

Read the recaps and watch the recordings of both events below.

The investigation into the police killing of Sammy Baker brought together the unique capabilities of Forensic Architecture and Forensis, in collaboration with Controle Alt Delete and Argos’s investigative journalism team. Their contributions supported charges that were filed at the Amsterdam Court of Justice on 19 January 2024.

A pre-event workshop prior to the Research Night provided an opportunity for the exchange of ideas between networks in the Netherlands researching police violence, racial profiling and spatial and algorithmic injustice. These networks were invited to come together and potentially create new fields of integrated practice and collaborative work. Participants deconstructed the investigative frameworks and research processes of the case, reflecting on the conceptual and ethical considerations underpinning counter-forensic work.

Forensic Architecture and Forensis introduced the participants to the counter-forensic tools and methods employed in this investigation, such as digital modelling, spatial reconstruction and video and image analysis. Nikki van der Westen of Argos shared insights from Argos’s collaboration and reporting on the case, and members of Controle Alt Delete reflected on their ongoing efforts to support Sammy’s family in their struggle for accountability and to effect change within Dutch policing. Drawing on their diverse expertise, the participants discussed how research like this can amplify the voices of those most affected by police violence and mobilise political movements.

The evening event also explored deeper questions surrounding evidence: what it means, how it is constructed communally, and why counter-forensics are needed. The event highlighted the timeline and relevant details of the Sammy Baker case, the unwarranted force used by police officers, and the ethical and conceptual framework of the research techniques underpinning counter-forensic investigations. The discussion then moved on to questions of solidarity within the disciplines of architecture, design and digital culture in relation to spatial violence and policing.

Following on from the earlier Evidencing the Police Killing of Sammy Baker event, the 2025 Research Night focused specifically on counter-forensics in relation to this case of police violence. The London-based research group Forensic Architecture and its Berlin-based sister organisation, Forensis, continued their collaboration with the Nieuwe Instituut, building on their previous publication with the investigative journalism platform Argos.

Counter-forensics is a form of investigative research employed by civil society organisations in response to human rights violations and acts of police and state violence. Combining socialised research, knowledge production and design-led storytelling, it enables interdisciplinary coalitions of citizens and civil society organisations to challenge the results of official investigations and present their findings in courtrooms and political processes, as well as in the media and cultural forums.

During the evening, invited speakers from Forensic Architecture, Forensis, INDEX, and Controle Alt Delete shared their expert insights regarding the Sammy Baker case. Justine Seewald-Krieger, Sammy Baker’s mother, gave a powerful opening speech. The discussion referred to other cases of police violence across Europe, including the investigations into the deaths of Mark Duggan and Sean Rigg, and explored technical investigative practices, activism, advocacy and the pursuit of accountability. Stafford Scott posed the question: what does the statement, “When there is no justice, there is just us,” imply? The discussion explored collaboration in these cases, unexpected allies, how to make police violence visible and address it, and how technical research and lived experience complement one another. Participants also considered the question of how designers and spatial researchers can contribute to exposing systemic injustice – particularly by dispelling the myth that the system’s design is fixed and unchangeable.

In closing, the Nieuwe Instituut’s Setareh Noorani emphasised that this evening was part of a broader struggle: the fight for institutional accountability and the pursuit of freedom in order to break the continuum of colonial violence and the links between policing, incarceration and war.

It is clear that institutions must facilitate community empowerment from a position of solidarity and justice, she said: “We have witnessed an intersecting body of structural and systemic failures that facilitate violence, criminalisation, racialisation and disenfranchisement. These issues run deep and beyond the European context – a visceral example being the settler violence and police brutality in the West Bank in Palestine, which is being aided and accelerated by the military and the state.”

Nieuwe Instituut has joined an existing collaboration between Forensic Architecture, Forensis, Controle Alt Delete and Argos. As the museum and institute responsible for the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, the Nieuwe Instituut is connected to the professional fields of spatial design and planning, as well as to other sectors and the wider public. Working from Goldsmiths, University of London, Forensic Architecture and Forensis develop and promote spatial tools and methods for forensic investigation that are essential in supporting architectural practice and research into state and police violence.

The invited guests for the 2024 Research Night and workshop were Phoebe Walton (Researcher at Forensis), Lola Conte (Designer and Researcher at Forensic Architecture), Natalia Sliwinska (Multidisciplinary Designer and Researcher at Forensic Architecture), Bob Trafford (Assistant Director at Forensic Architecture), Jair Schalkwijk (Researcher and Project Leader at Controle Alt Delete), and Nikki van der Westen (Editor-in-Chief at Argos). The workshop and Research Night were moderated by project curators Tijn van de Wijdeven and Setareh Noorani.

In 2025, the invited speakers were Bob Trafford (Forensic Architecture, Assistant Director), Phoebe Walton (Researcher at Forensis), Francesco Sebregondi (INDEX’s Founding Director), Jair Schalkwijk (Researcher and Project Leader at Controle Alt Delete), Stafford Scott (Director at Tottenham Rights and guest Professor at Forensic Architecture), and Justine Seewald (founder of Justiceforsammy.com). The event was moderated by Tijn van de Wijdeven and Setareh Noorani.