One exhibition that is not to be missed during Foto/Industria, organized by the MAST Foundation in Bologna, is undoubtedly Looking for Palestine by Forensic Architecture, hosted at Palazzo Bentivoglio Lab on Via Mascarella 2. In this era of asymmetrical warfare, where data and information are just as important as bullets and ammunition, any zone of opacity favours the aggressor, to the point that the first stage of any modern offensive consists in isolating the target by disabling communication networks. At the same time, this is the age of social media and the uncontrollable circulation of images, videos and audio files, in which anyone can become both producer and witness simply by switching on their smartphone and pressing the red button.
Forensic Architecture, “A cartography of genocide: Israel’s conduct in Gaza since October 2023”, published 25 Oct 2024, updated 08 Oct 2025, Self-Initiated, © Forensic Architecture and Ain Media Gaza, courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
Within the insatiable metabolism of the internet, information is easily lost and muddled, buried by traditional media that redirects attention to other topics, as well as by the ocean of disposable content uploaded by users. Nevertheless, this flood of data spills over everywhere, and its effects, whether consciously or not, are to be found all around us. These fragments of facts require both the appropriate tools to be understood, and above all, a determination to dig deeply. For this exhibition, curated by Elizabeth Breiner, Forensic Architecture presents the outcomes of investigations regarding the material and identity-based campaign of destruction perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people, culminating in the genocide that began on 7 October 2023, linking it to the dramatic events of the first Nakba in 1948.
Forensic Architecture, “Memory maps of Al-Dawayima designed by Mohammad Rajab Abu Kudra (Abu Yasser), interviewed 21 June 2024”, installation view, courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
The show follows Foto/Industria’s agenda, which on this occasion reflects on the theme of the home, or rather in this case, its absence. Founded by Eyal Weizman and based at Goldsmiths, University of London, the research agency has been conducting counter-forensic investigations since 2009. Working both independently and in collaboration with human-rights organisations, associations and courts, FA reconstructs the dynamics of specific incidents of corporate abuse and human right violations through scientific methods, developing new techniques and concepts through the collaboration of architects, programmers, graphic designers, journalists, legal scholars, artists and philosophers.
Forensic Architecture, “Nakba survivor Abu Bassam during a ’situated testimony’ interview with Forensic Architecture researchers, holding his clay model of Tur al-Zagh cave, the site of one of the major massacres carried out by Israeli forces in the Palestinian village of al-Dawayima on 29 October 1948. From The Massacre at Tur al-Zagh: al-Dawayima, 29 October 1948”, 2025, © Forensic Architecture, courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
Stepping into the Bentivoglio Lab, after descending a short flight of stairs, you find yourself in an underground space of bare brick walls and a vaulted ceiling marked by arches, illuminated by a central row of lamps that highlight a sequence of maps. These so called “memory maps” are one of the exhibition’s central themes. They were developed by researcher Mohammad Rajab Abu Kudra (also known as Abu Yasser) based on decades of conversations with former residents of the village of al-Dawayima, in the former district of Hebron. Their testimonies bring us back to the events of 29th October 1948, when Israeli forces razed the village to the ground and later established a settlement. Forensic Architecture worked closely with Abu Yasser and with Mohammed Ismail al-Quaisiya (also called Abu Bassam), who at the age of eleven survived the massacre and was a direct witness. Together, they reconstructed the course of events to shed light on what happened inside the cave of Tur al-Zagh, where the 89th battalion of the Israeli Army gathered together Palestinian civilians and opened fire, killing around eighty people. As shown in the video at the end of the main corridor, the FA team compared British RAF aerial photographs taken before 1948 with those captured after the Nakba, bridging the geographical gap by using a 3D reconstruction of the area’s morphology, developed with Abu Bassam, to locate the landmarks of town life and track the soldiers’ movements in order to pinpoint the exact location of the cave.
Forensic Architecture, “Aerial photograph with 1945 annotations showing the three most likely sites of Tur al-Zagh and the possible pit where the bodies of the massacre’s victims were buried. The cave of Tur al-Zagh was the site of one of the main massacres carried out by Israeli forces in the Palestinian village of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948”. From The Massacre of Tur al-Zagh: al-Dawayima, October 29, 1948, 2025 © Forensic Architecture, courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
As Eyal Weizman notes, this investigative method does not aim merely to produce a representation, but to act as a device capable of triggering memory, giving utmost importance to the smallest details. The exhibition route continues into the central room, which features materials that describe the methods and tools used by Israeli forces to displace and oppress the Palestinian population. On the central table lie the leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft containing evacuation orders and intimidation messages directed at the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, along with two smartphones playing short reels showing acts of daily resistance. A screen on the right retraces the geography of these forced displacements, charting the cartography of the genocide from October 7 to the present day. Another crucial body of data explored in the exhibition is the audio evidence and oral testimony, which provides a sonic counterpart to the dominance that images have in establishing factuality. “Three Days at al-Azhar University” is an audio recording by a young couple from Beit Hanoun, recounting the days between 28th and 30th January 2024, and their continuous attempts to reach the so-called “safe zones” following IDF evacuation orders.
Forensic Architecture, “Photo-match of a still from archival footage of Nakba survivor Salman Abu Sitta returning for the first time to his family’s village of al-Ma’in in 1995, geolocated within Forensic Architecture’s digital reconstruction of the village as it was in 1948”. External media courtesy of Palestine Land Society. From Return to al- Ma’in, 2025, © Forensic Architecture, courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
Another sound installation occupies the next room, where a bricked-up doorway becomes the window of the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Visitors can hear the sonic environment captured by Dr. Hassan, who recorded audio on his phone each evening before going to sleep. The recording was later shared with Earshot Agency, a non-profit organization founded by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, dedicated to collecting and analyzing audio evidence through forensic methods. The second video installation, located in the final room, presents the results of the investigation “Return to al-Ma’in, published in June 2025. In this case, the village of al-Ma’in, situated on a hill overlooking Khan Younis and the southern coast of Gaza, was digitally reconstructed in order to trace the evolution of the settlement from the night of 14th May 1948, when Israeli forces invaded and forced the local population to leave.
Forensic Architecture, “Leaves damaged by the aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides by Israeli forces, collected by FA researcher Shourideh C. Molavi in 2018”. From “Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza”, 2019, © Forensic Architecture and Ain Media Gaza courtesy the artists and MAST Bologna
Forensic Architecture collaborated with Salman Abu Sitta, born in al-Ma’in in 1937 and now one of the most prominent chroniclers of the Nakba and advocate for the Palestinian right of return. His account, combined with archival images, maps and aerial photographs, made it possible to reconstruct the techniques used by Israel to transform al-Ma’in into a strategic military outpost through its conversion to civilian use. This research uncovered advanced indigenous agricultural techniques from before the Nakba, showing how the subsequent settlement destroyed not only a physical space but also Palestinian culture and identity. The video begins with a 1995 film in which Salman returns to al-Ma’in during a historical moment when peace after the Oslo Accords seemed finally within reach. Weizman observes how this image today appears to be from the future. At the time of the interview, a ceasefire had come into effect, and scenes of families crossing the Wadi Gaza to return north to the places from which they had been displaced were broadcast worldwide. Forensic Architecture’s work is an impactful contribution to a process that demands time and persistence and must be carried forward by future generations so that the Palestinian people may one day have the right to return home.
Info:
Forensic Architecture. Looking for Palestine
07/11/2025 – 14/12/2025
Sottospazio – Palazzo Bentivoglio Lab,
Via Mascarella, 2 Bologna
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
On the occasion of the 7th Biennale Foto/Industria of the MAST Foundation
www.mast.org/foto/industria-2025
forensic-architecture.org
Born in Bologna, he studies fashion design and multimedia arts at the IUAV in Venice. He believes in the possibility of crossing boundaries between disciplines and that art can have an active role in breaking down inequalities and uniting people by creating communities.
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