Situated Testimony: Forensic Architecture’s Memory Objects

“Forensic Architecture” describes both the research agency, founded in 2011, as well as its investigative method and aesthetic practice. As an emerging discipline, forensic architecture exploits the relation between space, material, and memory. My aim in this article is to consider how the agency’s “memory objects”—aestheticized virtual renderings of their investigations—operate as testimonial objects, evidentiary archives, and simulated sites of conscience. I attend to one “memory object” in particular, a film titled “Drone Strike Investigation Case no. 2: Mir Ali, North Waziristan, 4 October 2010; The Architecture of Memory,” an investigation which the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights commissioned Forensic Architecture to undertake. This article suggests that this virtual “memory object” troubles the status of both the human witness and the physical landscape to which it refers.

Experimental Dining: Performance, Experience and Ideology in Contemporary Creative Restaurants

Considers four of the world’s leading creative restaurants as experimental performance practice. Using ideas from performance studies, cultural studies, philosophy and economics, the book argues that technoemotional restaurants can be understood as both a commodified experience and an artistic and aesthetic practice.

Noise is Not Volume Alone – Ambiences and Drony Experiments in Music and Sound Art

Noise is a complex category that has been used to describe instances of disturbance and disruption in technical vocabulary and in many artistic languages. In music, and more precisely, in sound art, noise has been imbued with specific significations that operate as aesthetical signifiers that convey meaning even beyond its intensity of volume. In this article, the theoretical aspects of noise are articulated through the analysis of concerning discourse around the transformations of the concept of sound, which ultimately resulted in the designation of a genre in itself – noise. Furthermore, it is through the enhancement of a ‘sonic turn’ that the notion of listening as a generative aesthetic practice has referred to the body as the main instance of meaning construction in relation to both time and space.

Aesthetic Surgery Practice Resumption in the United Kingdom During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all aspects of healthcare, including the delivery of elective aesthetic surgery practice. We carried out a national, prospective data collection of the first aesthetic plastic surgery procedures carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Objectives Our aim was to explore the challenges aesthetic practice is facing and to identify if any problems or complications arose from carrying out aesthetic procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Over a 6-week period from June 15 th-August 2 nd, 2020, data was collected using a proforma for aesthetic plastic surgery cases. All patients had outcomes recorded for the audit period of 14 days post-surgery. Results Our results demonstrated that none of the 371 patients audited whom underwent aesthetic surgical procedures developed any symptoms of COVID-19-related illness and none required treatment for any subsequent respiratory illness. Conclusions We found no COVID-19–related cases or complications in a cohort of patients who underwent elective aesthetic procedures under strict screening and infection control protocols in the early resumption of elective service.

Preoperative Imaging and Online Photo Galleries: The #Key to Surgical Commitment

Importance Preoperative imaging provides an advantageous balance by helping patients to effectively communicate their aesthetic desires while allowing surgeons to establish realistic expectations of surgical outcomes. Objective To determine the role of preoperative imaging and the importance of online-based photo galleries in influencing a patient's decision to pursue cosmetic facial plastic surgery. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective study was conducted on 100 patients who underwent preoperative imaging prior to undergoing aesthetic facial plastic surgery from July 2019 to May 2020. An in-office physician-led clinical consultation followed by a preoperative imaging session was performed on each patient prior to surgical intervention. A 6-question survey was provided once to all patients between their 3- and 12-month postoperative time periods. Main Outcomes and Measures The importance of preoperative imaging and the influence of physician website and social media photo galleries regarding surgical decision-making was evaluated. Results A total of 100 participants (female [90; 90%]) and mean age 52.6 (range, 18–77) years were included. Nearly 60% of patients underwent facial rejuvenation procedures. All reported that preoperative in-office physician consultation in combination with the use of preoperative imaging were helpful in facilitating a commitment to surgical intervention. Sixty-nine (69%) patients endorsed the use of both the frontal and lateral imaging views, while 30 (30%) deemed a single angle to be superior. Seventy (70%) participants utilized online-based “before & after” photo galleries in the form of physician websites and/or social media platforms to assist in their decision to undergo surgical intervention. Conclusions and Relevance The combination of in-office physician consultation, preoperative imaging, and availability of website and/or social media photo galleries plays a key role in a patient's decision to pursue cosmetic surgery. Thus, implementation of all facets should become an integral part of any facial plastic surgeon's aesthetic practice.

The nursing associate in aesthetic practice

Sharon King discusses the role of the nursing associate within medical aesthetics

Awareness for Atmospheres

In this essay I reflect on the meaning of atmospheres while the human world has been overwhelmed by a respiratory disease. In an auto-ethnographic gesture I reflect different ways of sensing and becoming sensitive to the atmospheric changes in my home during self-isolation. This self-questioning is directly related to the conceptualisation of air in view of its potential risk of carrying infectious virus particles. The air we breathe is currently stylised as a cloud on the micro level of aerosols, which gives reason to think anew about the status of the atmospheric with regard to our being in the world. Through combining philosophical reflection with aesthetic practice, I explore how an attunement towards the ways air flows through our habitats can open a new perspective on processes of subjectivation in a time of ongoing crisis. I argue that becoming sensitive towards air flow not only heightens our sensitivity for the affectivity of atmospheric processes but also for the different registers of our experience able to capture these effects.

Endangerment Reframed

Spectacular images of the Afghan Pamirs tend to convey an impression of extreme remoteness and to conflate endangerment in perceptions of Afghan Kyrgyz migrations. But how can endangerment sensibilities meet the aesthetics of strategic mobilizations without downplaying contestation? In mobilizing text and images, this essay intends to conciliate an aesthetic practice with analytical considerations.