The “Ministry of Exception” is a critique on the state of exception as a permanent governmental technique and the subsequent use of torture as a form of propaganda. The building is located in the centre of Washington D.C. and it is a hybrid between a traditional ministry and a detention camp.

Today, the most prominent implications of a permanent state of exception, especially in the case of domestic existence, we find in Guantanamo Bay. Since January 2002, shortly after initiating a military campaign in the Middle East, the United States started transferring hundreds of possible terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay, where they have been tortured for information and held without charge. Denied access to legal, economic and political redress, these lives exist in a limbo state, excluded from the law’s protection, a state of exception.

Ever since Guantanamo Bay became a naval base of the United States in 1903, it has slowly become more autonomous and more physically separated from the mainland of Cuba. For the first decades Guantanamo Bay was completely depended on Cuba for supplies, energy and drinking water. After the Cuban revolution the border became more secure and Guantanamo had to become self-sufficient.

Today, the detained terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay are tortured for information over a period of years. The torture techniques used in Guantanamo range from the more known methods, such as waterboarding and isolation, to less known but just as effective techniques, such as sensory deprivation and sensory bombardment. The torture techniques are all used to completely subdue the detainees mind to the will of the interrogator.

The detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is made up out of seven different prisons and other support spaces, such as torture and interrogation areas. A detainee is processed through the range of prisons over a number of years. Every detainee is first brought to the highest security prison, Camp Delta VI, which has no access to daylight. If a detainee shows cooperation during the interrogations he is transferred to a prison which has more “humane” circumstances, at each step in the process the circumstances get better. The whole complex therefore functions as an architectural torture processing machine.

The permanent state of exception as a governmental technique is becoming so wide spread, that if we look at institutions in Washington D.C. we can see that almost all of the ministries and other agencies operate at least partially within a state of exception. The state of exception is nowadays so far from its original constitutional idea, that we start to see the need for a new agency just to govern and manage the state of exception, a ministry of exception. A new ministry where all departments that operate within a state of exception are housed.

In the centre of Washington D.C. is an area known as the National Mall, it is a place filled with symbolical architecture, ranging from the Capitol to the Whitehouse and from the Lincoln memorial to the Washington monument. It is a place that symbolizes all the values, the history and the power of the United States, and it is visited by 24 million people annually. Making it the perfect location for the Ministry of Exception, a building that will continue in the tradition of showing the power and the values of the United States. A ministry were all departments that operate within a state of exception are housed, and the place where those that threaten the United States are imprisoned. A focal point for all that happens outside the democracy but still inside the sovereignty of a democratic government.

The facade of the building that sits above the waterline reflects the people that are detained below it, merging the contemporary symbolism of Guantanamo, the orange jumpsuit of the prisoners, with architectural symbolism.

The facade of the building that sits above the waterline reflects the people that are detained below it, merging the contemporary symbolism of Guantanamo, the orange jumpsuit of the prisoners, with architectural symbolism.

From the exterior the ministry of exception seems to consist of two components a ministry and a camp, reflected in the façade of the ministry. From the inside however, the distinction between camp and ministry is far less clear. Crucial functions of the camp are inside the ministry and vice versa, there is no longer a difference between ministry and camp. The ministry is a camp, and the camp is a ministry.

From the exterior the ministry of exception seems to consist of two components a ministry and a camp, reflected in the façade of the ministry. From the inside however, the distinction between camp and ministry is far less clear. Crucial functions of the camp are inside the ministry and vice versa, there is no longer a difference between ministry and camp. The ministry is a camp, and the camp is a ministry.

The facade of the building that sits above the waterline reflects the people that are detained below it, merging the contemporary symbolism of Guantanamo, the orange jumpsuit of the prisoners, with architectural symbolism.

The facade of the building that sits above the waterline reflects the people that are detained below it, merging the contemporary symbolism of Guantanamo, the orange jumpsuit of the prisoners, with architectural symbolism.