This research explores contemporary transformations of visual evidence in the context of an expanding visual culture shaped by hybridisations between photography and extended reality media. Starting from the historical centrality of photography as a medium of evidence, traditionally based on notions of transparency and mechanical objectivity, the thesis develops a reflection based on Carlo Ginzburg's evidential paradigm, which is reinterpreted in terms of a forensic gaze. This paradigm allows evidence to be conceived not simply in terms of the apparent absence of mediation, but as a clue to be interpreted and an operational tool for investigation. Starting from this theoretical framework, the research examines the forensic uses of photography from the nineteenth century to the present day, identifying a genealogy of XR media in the cartographic and metric tradition of crime scene documentation. Through the analysis of contemporary investigative practices, in particular those developed by Forensic Architecture, it shows how virtual reconstructions do not mark a break with photographic images, inviting an intermedial reconceptualisation of visual evidence that goes beyond the specificity of the photographic medium. This theoretical framework is then tested through archival research conducted at the Archives nationales in Paris, focusing on forensic images used in the so-called V13 trial, i.e. the legal trial following the 13 November 2015 attacks in Paris. The thesis analyses the institutional, archival and media conditions under which forensic images were presented in court, situating their presence in the courtroom through the semiopragmatic device of recontextualisation. The research highlights the tensions that arise when visual evidence of the attack scenes is shown in court: tensions between visibility and concealment, between testimonial function and control logic, between renunciation and remediation. Finally, the thesis concludes with an art-based research experiment that explores the audiovisual archive of the V13 trial in light of its difficult accessibility through an immersive installation. Developed from interviews with archivists and spatialised through a generative sound score and photogrammetric scans of archival working documents, the work evokes a documentary heritage by summoning it, without showing it, in terms of “missing pictures”.
Questa ricerca esplora le trasformazioni contemporanee della prova visiva nel contesto di una cultura visuale in espansione, modellata da ibridazioni tra fotografia e media di realtà estesa. Prendendo le mosse dalla centralità storica della fotografia come medium dell’evidenza, tradizionalmente fondata su nozioni di trasparenza e oggettività meccanica, la tesi sviluppa una riflessione a partire dal paradigma indiziario di Carlo Ginzburg, di cui si propone una rilettura in termini di sguardo forense. Tale paradigma consente di concepire l’evidenza non semplicemente in termini di apparente assenza di mediazione, ma come un indizio da interpretare e uno strumento operativo d’indagine. A partire da questo quadro teorico, la ricerca esamina gli usi forensi della fotografia dal diciannovesimo secolo fino a oggi, individuando una genealogia dei media XR nella tradizione cartografica e metrica della documentazione delle scene del crimine. Attraverso l’analisi di pratiche investigative contemporanee, in particolare quelle sviluppate da Forensic Architecture, si mostra come le ricostruzioni virtuali non segnino una rottura rispetto alle immagini fotografiche, invitando a una riconcettualizzazione intermediale della prova visiva che oltrepassi la specificità del fotografico. Questo quadro teorico viene successivamente verificato attraverso uno studio archivistico condotto presso gli Archives nationales di Parigi e incentrato sulle immagini forensi utilizzate nel cosiddetto processo V13, ovvero il procedimento penale seguito agli attentati del 13 novembre 2015 a Parigi. La tesi analizza le condizioni istituzionali, archivistiche e mediali con cui le immagini forensi sono state enunciate in aula, situando la loro presenza in tribunale attraverso il dispositivo semiopragmatico della ricontestualizzazione. La ricerca fa emergere le tensioni che insorgono quando le prove visive delle scene degli attentati vengono mostrate in aula: tensioni tra visibilità e occultamento, tra funzione testimoniale e logiche di controllo, tra rienunciazione e rimediazione. La tesi si conclude, infine, con un esperimento di art-based research che esplora l’archivio audiovisivo del processo V13 alla luce della sua difficile accessibilità attraverso un’installazione immersiva. Sviluppata a partire da interviste con archiviste e spazializzate mediante una partitura sonora generativa e da scansioni fotogrammetriche dei documenti di lavoro archivistico, l’opera rievoca un patrimonio documentale convocandolo, senza mostrarlo, nei termini di “immagini mancanti”.
PARADIGMS OF EVIDENCE. REFRAMING FORENSIC IMAGES THROUGH EXTENDED REALITY MEDIA
CINELLI, ROSA
2025
Abstract
This research explores contemporary transformations of visual evidence in the context of an expanding visual culture shaped by hybridisations between photography and extended reality media. Starting from the historical centrality of photography as a medium of evidence, traditionally based on notions of transparency and mechanical objectivity, the thesis develops a reflection based on Carlo Ginzburg's evidential paradigm, which is reinterpreted in terms of a forensic gaze. This paradigm allows evidence to be conceived not simply in terms of the apparent absence of mediation, but as a clue to be interpreted and an operational tool for investigation. Starting from this theoretical framework, the research examines the forensic uses of photography from the nineteenth century to the present day, identifying a genealogy of XR media in the cartographic and metric tradition of crime scene documentation. Through the analysis of contemporary investigative practices, in particular those developed by Forensic Architecture, it shows how virtual reconstructions do not mark a break with photographic images, inviting an intermedial reconceptualisation of visual evidence that goes beyond the specificity of the photographic medium. This theoretical framework is then tested through archival research conducted at the Archives nationales in Paris, focusing on forensic images used in the so-called V13 trial, i.e. the legal trial following the 13 November 2015 attacks in Paris. The thesis analyses the institutional, archival and media conditions under which forensic images were presented in court, situating their presence in the courtroom through the semiopragmatic device of recontextualisation. The research highlights the tensions that arise when visual evidence of the attack scenes is shown in court: tensions between visibility and concealment, between testimonial function and control logic, between renunciation and remediation. Finally, the thesis concludes with an art-based research experiment that explores the audiovisual archive of the V13 trial in light of its difficult accessibility through an immersive installation. Developed from interviews with archivists and spatialised through a generative sound score and photogrammetric scans of archival working documents, the work evokes a documentary heritage by summoning it, without showing it, in terms of “missing pictures”.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14242/217795
URN:NBN:IT:UNIMI-217795