Forensic Architecture Initiative Αthens (FAIĀ)

Forensic Architecture Initiative Αthens, or FAIĀ, is a new Athens-based non-profit investigative agency which undertakes spatial and multimedia investigations for cases of human rights and environmental violence. FAIĀ builds on the pioneering work of Forensic Architecture, to work with – and from within – communities that have suffered state and corporate violence and to produce evidence to support their claims to justice. Based in Athens and active across Greece, the Balkans, and the Eastern Mediterranean, FAIĀ operates from the periphery of Europe, a frontier where multiple forces collide. FAIĀ, in Greek φαιά, refers to the liminal moment between darkness and light. Operating with aesthetic investigative tools such as cartography, 3D modelling, and time-based media FAIĀ renders complex events legible to wider publics. The work of FAIĀ extends beyond courts into the cultural sphere – exhibited in museums, galleries, and community spaces – where art becomes a site for public accountability, collective debate, and the reimagining of justice through radical visual practices.

The project “Femicides in Greece: A counter-forensic toolkit” investigates femicides in Greece using spatial and aesthetic investigative methodologies. During this project FAIĀ will gather, archive and analyse data on femicides and gender-based violence in Greece in order to identify and forensically reconstruct a paradigmatic case. The case will be used to develop a much-needed feminist approach to spatial and forensic research, allowing the FAIĀ team to address the traumatic dimensions of these violent incidents with the necessary care and rigour that will add force to the claims for justice and accountability. The project will result in a short video investigation and a work-in-progress open-source investigative toolkit.