Amplified Humanity and the Architectural Criminal

Abstract:If the relationship between heritage and humanity has been reconfigured from an opposition to one of proximity, what are the architectural terms of this proximity? What are the operations through which the "expansion" or "widening" of crime and punishment alike are imagined? In this essay the author probes these questions in two parts. First, the accused's discourse, in court and in abundant video evidence, provides an entry into the logic of sincerity that motivated the design of the destruction of Timbuktu. Second, an analysis of the practices that authenticate Timbuktu as an international treasure—both in court and in ongoing preservation—reveal the techniques of amplification that are embedded into the built environment to hold together an agreement, on both sides of the law, that the target of this new criminality is humanity itself.