Building Public Truths: Designing JusticeBuilding Public Truths: Designing Justice

Ethnic profiling and police violence are not isolated incidents, but the result of structural ‘design flaws’. Patterns emerge that shed light on the relationships between conventional law enforcement, systemic racism, and the pursuit of social justice. Under the banner of designing justice, designers, researchers, activists and members of affected communities come together to share insights from their respective fields and to envisage ways of living together that potentially ensure greater justice.

The curator of Building Public Truths, Setareh Noorani, will moderate the event. She will introduce the French journalist, writer and filmmaker Rokhaya Diallo, who will deliver the keynote address. This will be followed by contributions from the British human rights activist Marcia Rigg and from representatives of the research organisations collaborating with the Nieuwe Instituut on the Forensic Architecture exhibition: Forensic Architecture, Forensis, Index, and Controle Alt Delete.

Leading up to the opening of the Building Public Truths exhibition in March 2027, the Nieuwe Instituut and its partner institutions are organising a series of events. These will allow architects, designers, journalists, policymakers, social workers, activists and students to explore themes from the exhibition from their own professional and societal perspectives. Designing Justice is part of a multi-day exchange organised in collaboration with BAK Basecamp and Colored Qollective.

Through three case studies, Building Public Truths demonstrates how spatial designers can use their knowledge, skills and techniques to carry out counter-investigations. The architect’s toolkit can serve as an investigative instrument capable of challenging official narratives. When architects collaborate with other designers, researchers and journalists, they can build alliances as well as structures. By deploying their tools in new ways, architects can contribute to the reconstruction of the truth, and potentially the design of a more just society.