3553 is pleased to present Immobilities, an exhibition curated by OFFICE, Jack Isles, Mark Romei, & U-P, featuring work by Border Forensics; Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne; Forensis; INDEX; LIMINAL; Manus Recording Project Collective; Mark Romei; and The Investigative Commons.

Opening Times

Friday 5th September 6pm-9pm (Opening Night )

Saturday 6th 11am-3pm

Thursday 11th 11am-3pm

Friday 12th 11am-3pm

Saturday 13th 11am-3pm

Public Program TBA

Immobilities

Across the world, both architectures and environments are mobilised to monitor and control the movement of bodies and communities. Central to this practice is the immobilisation of people on the move, and an endeavour to dictate who holds the right to mobility, and how. From borders, walls, rooms, ecologies and soundscapes, Immobilities reflects on the numerous ways through which nation states design and perpetuate systems of border control, shaping the global mobility regime and the lives of those within it. The exhibition convenes an international consortium of researchers, designers and activists, situating international and Australian research within a transcontinental analysis of border practices. In turn, documenting and denouncing bordering in its many forms, across numerous geographies, technologies and methodologies.

Supporters

This exhibition is generously supported by Monash Art, Design & Architecture, OFFICE, & U-P.
Graphic design & identity by U-P

Contributors

LIMINAL

LIMINAL is a laboratory investigating intersectional (im-)mobilities and border violence. Based in the University of Bologna’s Department of the Arts, it builds on more than ten years of experience in developing pioneering techniques of geospatial, media and open-source investigation in the context of the Forensic Oceanography and Border Forensics project. We work with communities affected by border violence to document and contest the harm created by unequal mobility regimes across multiple geographies and temporalities, mobilising strategies of spatial and visual analysis and forensic imagination. Our team is composed of architects, designers, and researchers, and we collaborate with a wide range of partners: from human rights organisations to investigative journalists, from activist groups to autonomous research centres, scientists and cultural institutions. Our work has been used as evidence in courts of law, published across different media and academic outlets, as well as exhibited and screened internationally.

Manus Recording Project Collective

The Manus Recording Project Collective is named after the Australian Government-funded prison in Papua New Guinea, bureaucratically known as the Manus Regional Processing Centre, or MRPC. The collective comprises nine men who had been imprisoned in MRPC – Farhad Bandesh, Behrouz Boochani, Samad Abdul, Shamindan Kanapathi, Kazem Kazemi, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, Farhad Rahmati, Thanush Selvraj, and Yasin Abdallah. These men, seeking asylum by boat, were forcibly transferred to Manus Island by the Australian government nearly seven years earlier. By 2020, six of these men were held in hotels or detention centres in Port Moresby, Melbourne or Brisbane. The collective also includes three men based in Naarm/Melbourne – André Dao, Michael Green and Jon Tjhia.

Mark Romei

Mark Romei is an architectural researcher and spatial practitioner currently completing a PhD at Monash University. His research, titled Architectural Witnessing: Revealing the Spatial Redaction of Australia’s Grey Network of Hotel Detention, examines techniques of architectural representation capable of reconstructing and documenting detention sites that lack forms associated with conventional carceral architecture. By adapting and transforming methods rooted in architectural practice, his work critically engages with the spatial and bureaucratic concealment of these sites.

Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne

‘Against Erasure’ was conceived, designed and built by a team from the University of Melbourne, with assistance from specialists in refugee studies and carceral history. The project was led by Claire Loughnan (Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne) and Una McIlvenna (formerly History, University of Melbourne and now Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Senior Lecturer, Australian National University). Team members included: Sam Taylor, Mitch Buzza, Meredith Hinze, Grace Quiason (University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts e-learning/e-teaching team); Jordana Silverstein (Senior Research Fellow, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness in the Melbourne Law School), Uma Kothari (Global Development Institute, University of Manchester and School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne); Mahnaz Alimardanian (Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne, Social Anthropologist and Founder, Piir Consulting). The project was funded by an internal grant, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne.

The team were aided in this task by the generous assistance and eyewitness testimony of former detainee Behrouz Boochani and by reflections on the site from former Migration worker, Nicole Judge. The site would not have been possible without access to stills and other materials from the film Chauka Please Tell Us the Time, produced by Arash Kamali Sarvestani and Behrouz Boochani; and to recordings from the Messenger Project, generously made available by Michael Green and by Abdul Aziz Muhamat (one of the men formerly imprisoned in Manus). James Parker (Law School, University of Melbourne) also contributed advice.

Forensis

Founded in 2021 in Berlin, Forensis works for and in collaboration with individuals and communities affected by state and corporate violence, to support their demands for justice, reparations, and accountability. Our work focuses on building case files for exacting accountability for human rights violations including police brutality, systemic racism and antisemitism, border regimes, surveillance, environmental destruction, and is aimed at supporting reparation claims for colonial crimes. Drawing on techniques and methodologies developed at the Goldsmiths, University of London-based Forensic Architecture (FA), we are an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in spatial and visual investigation, time-based 3D reconstruction, cartographic analysis, and open source investigation.

The Investigative Commons

Border Forensics, Forensis, INDEX, and LIMINAL are each members of The Investigative Commons (IC); an expanded community of practice that includes investigative agencies and reporters, lawyers, activists, whistleblowers, scientists, artists, architects, filmmakers, software developers and cultural institutions. Amongst them are members of communities, organizations and individuals who are at the forefront of interconnected struggles.

Members of the Investigative Commons investigate the involvement and complicity of state and corporate agencies in cases of right-wing violence, racist policing and border regimes, urban warfare, gender-based violence, violations of labour rights, and cyber-surveillance, while supporting demands for reparations for the ongoing crimes of colonialism.

Border Forensics

Border Forensics (BF) is a non-profit association based in Geneva. It mobilizes cutting-edge geospatial, visual, and open-source investigation methods pioneered by Forensic Architecture, to document and contest border violence in all its forms, whether they are between or within states. Building upon 10 years of documenting border violence at sea, it seeks to acknowledge and fight for the dignity of people on the move and support their claims to rights and justice by investigating practices of violence perpetrated by states, police forces, militaries, and corporations, in collaboration with concerned communities and civil society organisations. In doing that, BF strives to embody a form of critical human rights practice, seeking to use a set of innovative tools and, at the same time, reflecting critically on those very tools, their use, and at times ambivalent effects.

INDEX

INDEX is a not-for-profit investigative NGO based in Paris. We investigate and publish expert reports on alleged acts of violence, violations of fundamental freedoms, and human rights abuses. Bringing together a network of independent journalists, researchers, visual artists, architects, engineers, and lawyers, Index specializes in open source investigation, audiovisual analysis, and 3D digital reconstruction.

U-P

U-P is an interdisciplinary design practice with a focus on creative direction, spaces and objects and campaigns. Since 2010 U-P have partnered with organisations across all sectors, using design as a means to help articulate their place within contemporary culture. We place a strong emphasis on the craft of design, while maintaining a critical curiosity into how emerging technologies mediate new forms of creative expression. U-P was founded by Paul Marcus Fuog and Uriah Gray.

3553 is a public event space dedicated to the exploration of ideas that affect the built environment. Operated by OFFICE, a design and research practice committed to advancing critical dialogue, 3553 fosters collaboration across disciplines, communities, and borders. The space offers a platform for local, national, and international practitioners, students, researchers, and academics to showcase innovative work, share insights, and engage in meaningful conversations. Through a diverse program of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and public events, 3553 invites audiences to engage with the evolving landscape of design, while creating a space for education, critical thought, and creative exchange.

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Banner image features an excerpt from Asymmetric Visions by LIMINAL & Border Forensics