Activism in Process

Plano Negativo

Plano Negativo: Colectivo de Investigación de Arquitectura Forense en Colombia is a collective of visual artists, architects, social scientists, earth scientists, designers, and artists who conduct collaborative investigations on human violence and environmental conflicts in Colombia and Latin America.

Plano Negativo: Colectivo de Investigación de Arquitectura Forense en Colombia is a collective of visual artists, architects, social scientists, earth scientists, designers, and artists who conduct collaborative investigations on human violence and environmental conflicts in Colombia and Latin America. Plano Negativo is a transnational collaboration with collaborators based in Colombia, Portugal, Spain, UK, and US.  

The project began with the collaboration between Forensic Architecture and the Colombian Truth Commission, which was published in Bogota in December 2021. The work gathered significant interest in the country, and different Colombian groups asked for support for their endeavors. With the help of CHRA, Plano Negativo started an inquiry into the case of Dilan Cruz, a teenager who was murdered by police in the 2019 national strike in Bogota.

The support of CHRA helped Plano Negativo to conduct an investigation and to start the process of working with Colombian architects, designers, lawyers and animators to establish a studio in the country. 

At the moment, Plano Negativo is working with several organizations in Colombia: 

The Comité de Solidaridad con Presos políticos, a human rights group created 50 years ago by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and considered the oldest human rights organization in the country. They are in charge of the Dilan Case.  

Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo, one of the most renowned Latin American human rights NGO. They worked on a case that was part of the Truth Commission, and are now collaborating with Plano Negativo on a case involving coal mining and environmental violence.  

Terrae, an NGO of geographers, biologists, geologists and earth scientists who support grassroots organizations in environmental conflicts. Plano Negativo is working with them on cases dealing with environmental violence.  

In addition to The Killing of Dilan Cruz, Plano Negativo is currently conducting two other investigations: Sculptures of devastation: a visual history of coal mining in the Colombian Caribbean; and Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon. Finally, the work supported by CHRA has helped in the construction of a Latin American network of visual counter forensics with other groups in Mexico and Brazil. 

The case of Dilan Cruz has several different outcomes and presentation forums.

  1. Analysis of the visual evidence: This is a study of the methods and visual materials by the Attorney General’s Office of Colombia as well as the videos that captured the killing of Dilan Cruz in 2019. The main result is a video that will be submitted by the victim’s lawyer in the legal case against the police. An edited version will also be created for sharing with the public.  
  2. Exhibition piece: This piece will use the analysis conducted in the video and expand on several discussions around protests and protection against state violence. 

Video

Gallery

Images 1 – 8 from “The Case of the Killing of Dilan Cruz” (current, ongoing project):

  1. Positioning of Captain Cubillos based on the three cameras that filmed him at the moment he stops walking at 15:43:07 in our synchronization. Cubillos raises his weapon just after Dilan Cruz returns the second tear gas canister.  (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  2. This image represents the 2.5 seconds (75 video frames) prior to the shot, beginning when Dilan returns the second tear gas canister. We froze all the positions of the two figures in the 75 frames to understand the relationship between the movements of Captain Cubillos and Dilan Cruz. In this way, we were able to trace the tracking of Dilan by Captain Cubillos.  (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  3. Top view of all the movements made by the different actors during the 2.5 seconds before the fatal shot. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  4. The time between the moment Dilan returns the second tear gas canister and the shot fired by Cubillos was recorded by eight cameras over 75 frames. Each camera recorded different aspects of the scene, with four cameras capturing Dilan, two cameras capturing Cubillos and two cameras capturing both of them. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  5. A comparison between cameras 01 and 02 to determine the landing point of the tear gas canister returned by Dilan. We can see that the perceived distances on the Y-axis of camera 01 are distorted by the vanishing point, which makes everything seem closer to the camera’s point of view. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  6. The report states that Dilan's act of returning two tear gas canisters to twenty armed ESMAD agents protected by their uniforms and shields was ‘equivalent in force’ and constituted an act of aggression. This argument raises serious concerns about the conception of proportionality between armed state forces and civilians. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  7. Positioning of all protesters moving north on Carrera 4 (Avenue 4) based on three cameras which filmed the scene from the moment Dilan Cruz returns the second tear gas canister to the shot of Captain Cubillos. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)
  8. We analyzed the people around the points that CEVAP identified as potential alternative targets of Captain Cubillos’ shot. Three cameras recorded these areas from the moment Cubillos raised his weapon until the shot was fired. Contrary to what CEVAP claims, we were not able to identify people throwing objects or behaving with a ‘defiant attitude’. (Forensic Architecture, 2023)

Images 9 – 11 from previous projects focused on land dispossession in northwestern Colombia:

  1. Reconstruction of a campesino farm in Coquitos, Urabá, Antioquia for the project based on the methodology of situated testimony using the Unreal Engine platform. Detail of farm from 1989. Forensic Architecture and The Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, 2021.
  2. Reconstruction of a campesino farm in Coquitos, Urabá, Antioquia for the project based on the methodology of situated testimony using the Unreal Engine platform. Detail of farm from 2020. Forensic Architecture and The Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, 2021.
  3. Video tracking and 3D reconstruction of the path of Carlos Horacio Urán Rojas as he exits the Palacio de Justicia. Cajas Negras (2021), Forensic Architecture and the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation.

Credits

Hannah Martin, Nadia Méndez, and Oscar Pedraza
Project leaders
Sofia Prado Zapata, Camilo Garcia Rivera, and Pedro Sanchez
Researchers
Paulo Murillo Sandoval
Remote Sensing consultancy
Manuel Correa
Video editing
Gerald Bermudez
Field Production
Andrés Jurado
Narration
Alvaro Rodriguez Badel and Julian Angarita Bernal
Animation
Kishan San, Nick Masterton, Eyal Weizman, Sarah Nankivell, Elizabeth Breiner, Ali Suriel Melchor, Bob Trafford, Lorenzo Morales, and Jamon van den Hoek
Project support

Resources