Architecture of Authority
[from Architecture of Authority’s back cover]
For the past several years—and with seemingly limitless access—Richard Ross has been making unsettling and thought-provoking pictures of architectural spaces that exert power over the individuals within them.
From a Montessori preschool to churches, mosques, and diverse civic spaces—a Swedish courtroom, the Iraqi National Assembly hall, the United Nations—the images in Architecture of Authority build to ever harsher manifestations of authority: an interrogation room at Guantánamo, segregation cells at Abu Ghraib, and finally, a capital-punishment death chamber.
Though visually cool, this work deals with hot-button issues: the surveillance that increasingly intrudes on post–9/11 life, the abuse of power, the erosion of individual liberty. The connections among the various architectures are striking; as Ross points out: “The Santa Barbara Mission confessional and the LAPD robbery homicide interrogation rooms are the same intimate proportions. Both are made to solicit a confession in exchange for some form of redemption.”
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Architecture of Authority | Published by Aperture Foundation 2007
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Holding Cells, Joint Task Force | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Citadel | Aleppo, Syria 2006
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Seventieth Precinct house, New York Police Department | Brooklyn, New York 2006
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Set of Law and Order | New York 2006
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Set of Law and Order C.I. | Culver City, California 2006
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Set of Law and Order | New York 2006
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Set of Law and Order C.I. | Culver City, California 2006
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Set of Law and Order C.I. | Culver City, California 2006
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Toddler classroom, Montessori Center School | Goleta, California 2006
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Second-Floor Corridor, Santa Barbara High School | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Office of Assistant Principal for Attendance and Discipline, Santa Barbara High School | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Department of Motor Vehicles | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Movie Executive's Office | Burbank, California 2006
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Communications office in a bunker below the Imperial Palace | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2006
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Contractor's office in a former train station for departures to Mecca | Damascus, Syria 2006
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Mary Boone Gallery | New York 2006
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Lobby, Secret Service Headquarters | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Conference room, FBI Headquarters | San Francisco, California 2006
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Iraqi National Assembly (also known as Conference Room 4, Convention Center) | Baghdad, Iraq 2006
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United Nations General Assembly | New York 2006
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United Nations General Assembly | New York, New York 2006
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United Nations Security Council Chamber | New York, New York 2006
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Law Courts | Goteborg, Sweden 2006
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Jury Box, Superior Court | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Superior Court | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Military Tribunal Building | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Los Prietos Boys' Camp | Santa Barbara, California
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Dining room for Fourth Brigade, Third Infantry Division headquarters (formerly Uday Hussein's palace) | Outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq 2006
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Communal room, Security Housing Unit, Pelican Bay State Prison | Crescent City, California 2006
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Four Seasons Hotel | Mexico City, Mexico 2006
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Communication Area, Angola State Penitentiary | Angola, Louisiana 2006
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"Communication with Others" Room, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security | San Francisco, California 2006
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Confessional, Santa Barbara Mission | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Central London Mosque | London, Mosque 2006
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St. Kilda Church | St. Kilda, Scotland 2006
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Women's prayer area, Khaled ibn al-Walid Mosque | Homs, Syria 2006
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Blue Mosque | Istanbul, Turkey 2006
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Topkapi Palace | Istanbul, Turkey 2006
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Guardhouse | Damascus, Syria 2006
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Segregation Cells, Camp Remebrance, new Abu Ghraib prison | Abu Ghraib, Iraq 2006
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Palacio de Lecumberri (former prison) | Mexico City 2006
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Palacio de Lecumberri (former prison) | Mexico City, Mexico 2006
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Chalk Farm tube station, Northern Line | Chalk Farm, London 2006
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Guardhouse, abandoned Marine Corps post | Niland, California 2006
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Inactive Nuclear Command Center | Anstruther, Scotland 2006
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Prince of Wales Road | Chalk Farm, London 2006
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U.S. Border Inspection station | San Ysidro, California 2006
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Air Force Building, Ministry of Defense | Damascus, Syria 2006
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DG Bank | Frankfurt, Germany 2006
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DG Bank | Frankfurt, Germany 2006
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Exit from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, L.A. International Airport | Los Angeles, California 2006
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New Scotland Yard | London, England 2006
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San Ysidro, California, seen from Tijuana | Tijuana, Mexico 2006
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Span over and between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Ysidro, California | 2006
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection | San Ysidro, California 2006
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Seventieth Precinct house, New York Police Department | Brooklyn, New York 2006
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View from the line-up room, Oakland Police Department | Oakland, California 2006
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Line-up stage, Oakland Police Department | Oakland, California 2006
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Hard Interview Room, FBI Headquarters | Los Angeles, California
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Hard Interview Room, FBI Headquarters | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Grand Hyatt Hotel | Berlin, Germany 2006
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Interview room, Abu Ghraib prison ("hard site") | Abu Ghraib, Iraq 2006
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Interview room, Robbery and Homicide Division, Parker Center, Los Angeles Police Department headquarters | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Interview room, Robbery and Homicide Division, Oakland Police Department | Oakland, California 2006
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Interrogation room, Delta Camp V | Guantanamo, Cuba
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Interview room, Secret Service headquarters | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Interview room, Santa Barbara Police Department | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Interview room, Santa Barbara Police Department | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Booking bench, Los Angeles Police Department, Fifth and Wall Street Station | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Holding cells, Metropolitan Police, Collingwood Road | Hillingdon, London 2006
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Holding cells, Metropolitan Police, Collingwood Road | Hillingdon, London 2006
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Holding cell, Santa Barbara Police Department | Santa Barbara, California 2006
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Holding cells, general population area, Security Housing Unit, Pelican Bay State Prison | Crescent City, California 2006
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Isolation room ("rubber room"), US Customs and Border Protection | San Ysidro, California 2006
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Holding cell, San Francisco Police Department, Northern Division | San Mateo, California 2006
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Secondary Inspection and Holding area, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, S.F. International Airport | San Francisco, California 2006
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Border crossing from Jordan to Syria | 2006
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Isolation room ("rubber room"), exterior, Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Isolation room ("rubber room"), Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Secondary Inspection Room ("pat-down room"), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Los Angeles International Airport | Los Angeles, California 2006
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Outside courtroom, Central Criminal Court of Iraq | Baghdad, Iraq 2006
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Holding cell, Khmer Rouge Prison 21 (no longer in use) | Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2006
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Cell, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2006
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Camp 5 | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Cell, Camp 5 | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Abandoned shower stalls, Camp X-Ray | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Arrow pointing to Mecca, exercise yard, Camp 3 | Guantanamo, Cuba 2006
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Isolation exercise yard, Security Housing Unit, Pelican Bay State Prison | Crescent City, California 2006
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Clock and phones that dial the governor's office, Angola State Penitentiary | Angola, Louisiana 2006
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Lethal-injection room, Angola State Penitentiary | Angola, Louisiana 2006
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Statue of Hafez al-Assad, Military Museum | Damascus, Syria 2006
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Shelter under the Imperial Palace | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2006
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Troop Billet, Camp Victory | Outside Baghdad, Iraq 2006
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Dormitory, mental institution | Havana, Cuba 2006
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Crusader fort | Craq du Chevalier, Syria 2006
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Marine Corps Recruit Depot | San Diego, California 2006
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