Forensic Architecture releases new evidence in the Mark Duggan case

Research group Forensic Architecture, based at Goldsmiths University and previously nominated for the Turner Prize, has reconstructed the 2011 death of Mark Duggan via virtual reality video. 

The video, which was originally commissioned in 2018, will be presented as part of a wider exhibition at the ICA this autumn. It shows that  Duggan “could not have been holding a firearm” when he was killed by undercover police. This finding contradicts the official report of events given by authorities. It also reaffirms suspicions that a handgun found seven metres from Duggan’s body could have been planted, particularly as no DNA evidence was found to link him to the firearm. 

Speaking of the project, Forensic Architecture founder Eyal Weizman said; “Our investigation demonstrates that independent civil society groups, empowered by new media technologies, are capable of holding the police and their oversight bodies to account.” Tellingly, the Forensic Architecture investigation helped Duggan’s family to receive a financial settlement in an out-of-court civil claim against the Metropolitan police in September 2019.

As recent police shootings in the US spark an anti-racist movement of international scale, protestors in the UK have highlighted the racial injustices permeating British society. Duggan’s killing is one of the most prominent examples of this in recent memory, famously leading to the London Riots in August 2011. 

View the Forensic Architecture video below and read more about it on their website.