Under the Radar

Under the Radar

An exhibition organized by the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel - 16.11.2019 - 30.08.2020 

Much of the work of architecture takes place before and after the actual act of construction, as architects probe the conditions governing the territories in which they are intervening. In a process similar to that of investigative journalism, they collect pieces of evidence, analyse them and synthesise them into a narrative.

The exhibition ‘Under the Radar’ presents an international overview of significant research projects dealing with this investigative form of architecture: The ‘Handbook of Tyranny’ by Theo Deutinger (At), ‘The Murder of Halit Yozgat’ and further inquiries by Forensic Architecture (UK), ‘Italian Limes’ by Studio Folder (It), ‘Smuggling Architecture’ by Kwong Von Glinow (USA), ‘Swiss Lessons’ by EPF Lausanne’s Laboratory Basel (CH), ‘Sand and Labour’ by the Professorship Architecture of Territory at ETH Zurich (CH), ‘Parallel Sprawl’ by Kunik de Morsier (CH) and ‘Meteorological Architecture’ by Philippe Rahm (Fr). In all cases, the emphasis is on the methods, content and conclusions of these spatial analyses of territory. Certain hidden mechanisms – Who controls which spaces? Who manages them? Who benefits? – can thus be revealed. 

The S AM has updated and expanded the exhibition in reaction to COVID-19.

As part of this, Theo Deutinger and students at the University of Kassel have developed cartographic analyses of the ways in which the pandemic has expressed itself in spatial terms. These studies, entitled «The Image of the Virus» and «The Pandemic Space», complement Deutinger’s own contribution «Handbook of Tyranny» in the exhibition.

Curated by: Andreas Kofler

Team: Luca Deutinger, Arseniy Sverdlov