Violent Legalities

Violent Legalities is an innovative interdisciplinary project developed by contributors spanning the fields of anthropology, architecture, art and software design. Viewers will navigate a series of specially produced interactive maps of Aotearoa, which plot historical instances of human rights violations. Streamlining a wealth of information drawn from hundreds of documents and sources, including the Waitangi Tribunal, the collective brings to light the way legislative changes have contributed to many instances of unrest. For this presentation, the Violent Legalities team build on the interfaces in direct dialogue with Tauranga mana whenua, further populating the maps with local histories and voices.

Initiated by architectural researcher Karamia Müller and London/Boston based software developer Lachlan Kermode, the exhibition builds on open-source software developed by Forensic Architecture, an influential human rights agency who were nominated for the Turner Prize in 2018.