curriculum vitae

architect, researcher, spatial investigator
rami.msallam1@gmail.com






 
Rami Msallam
(b. 1999, Aleppo, he/him) is an architect, researcher, and visual/spatial investigator based in Zurich. He trained as an architect at ETH Zürich and pursued his master’s degree at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he was awarded the Forensic Architecture Scholarship and graduated with distinction. Currently, Rami Msallam is a member of the research team led by Prof. Mariam Issoufou at the Chair of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability, ETH Zürich.

EDUCATION
2024
Goldsmiths University of London
Department of Visual Cultures
Centre for Research Architecture
MA Research Architecture
Distinction
+
2022
ETH Zürich

Department of Architecture
BSc Arch ETH
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WORK
2024 – Present
Scientific Assistant
ETH Zürich, Department of Architecture
Chair of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability (Professor Mariam Issoufou)
+
2024
Research Assistant (6 months)
Forensic Architecture
Goldsmiths, University of London
+
2023–Present
Co-Founder and active member
20 km/h, Zürich
+
2022–2023
Internship (6 months)
Building Permits Office AFB
Department for Construction, Transport & Environment BVU
Canton Aargau, Switzerland
+
2022 + 2023
Tutor
Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich,
Prestudy Event
+
2022
Student Assistant
Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich  
Chair of History of Art and Architecture (Professor Philip Ursprung)
+
2021–2022
Student Assistant
Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich
Chair of Digital Building Technologies (Prof.  Benjamin Dillenburger)
+
2021–2023
Booking, Programming and Production (freelance)
Fête de la Musique de Zurich
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EXHIBITIONS
11.04.–11.05.2025
Kunstraum Aarau, Switzerland
“Strike [at] the Border”
(Solo Exhibition)
+
26.09.–03.10.2024
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Centre for Research Architecture,
Group Exhibition and Co-Curation “Interruptions
Contribution ‘Voids in Earth‘ (Video Installation)
+
30.06–01.07.2023
Zentralwäscherei Zürich, Switzeralnd
Group Exhibition and Co-Curation “Zwischen-Wäscherei“
with 20km/h Collective
+
08.07–29.07 2023
Dynamo Zürich, Switzerland
Group exhibtion “RA(RAUM)UM” curated by  lady.and.sirprise
Contribution ‘turicum‘ (interactive audiovisual installation)
with Lewis Beauchamp and Carolin Bodensteiner
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TALKS/CONFERENCES
19–21.09.2025
Ca’Buccari, Venice, Italy
Symposium ‘Unmasking Space: Assembly’
Contribution ‘Sensing Fire’ 
+
15–18.09.2025
Carleton University, Canada
Conference ‘Cartographies of Loss: The Afterlives of War’
Panel ‘Trees Who Remember‘ 
Paper ‘Mapping the Environmental Turn: Climate, Violence, and the Healing of Post-Conflict Geographies’
+
28.05.2025
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Workshop ‘Italian Imperial Ecologies‘ organized by Dr. Beatrice Falcucci
Contribution ‘Mapping the Life and Afterlives of Colonial Mines in Eritrea: A Forensic and Spatial Approach’
+
11.04.2025
Kunstraum Aarau, Switzerland
Panel discussion organized and moderated by Rami Msallam
Invited guests: Charles Heller (Border Forensics, University of Bern), Lucia Bernini (ETH Zürich) and Rohit Jain (University of Bern)
+
03.04.2025
Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich
Elective Course ‘Unmasking Space’
Lecture and workshop ‘How to Represent the Unrepresentable? Aesthetic and Operative Methodologies for Mapping the Violence of Material Extractivism’
+
26.02.2025
Design Studio Prof. Mariam Issoufou, ETH Zürich
Workshop on architectural images and models
Operational Images, Operative Models
+
20.02.2025
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland
Panelist “Neutrality and Prosperity”
with Denise Bertschi, Lea Haller and Mascha Madörin
+
28.09.2024
Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, UK
Symposium “Behind Enemy Lines”
Panel ‘The Requested Document Does Not Exist‘: Colonial Operations in Archives
With invited guests Omar Ferwati (Forensic Architecture) and Agata Nguyen Chuong
Co-moderation and Co-Organisation by Yan Wai Yin, Kevin Howard and Rami Msallam
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PUBLICATIONS
Ammann, K. and El Adisey, B. (eds) (2025) ‘Sich der Neutralisierung widersetzen? (Rohit Jain im Gespräch mit Rami Msallam)’, in Modell Neutralität. 1. Auflage: Scheidegger & Spiess.
+
Gardika, P., Gilman, C. and Howard, K. (eds) (2024) ‘Navigating The Politics of Knowing’, in Dead Ends. London: CRA Press.
+
Msallam, R. (2024) Extra-Territorialising Violence in the Gold Supply Chain: A Critical Material-Discursive-Legal Perspective. Goldsmiths, University of London.
+
Baumann, S. et al. (eds) (2022) ‘Dystopie im Provisorium, Utopie im Erinnern’, in Fire. Zürich: gta Verlag (Trans, 41).
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AWARDS/GRANTS
2023–2024
Forensic Architecture Scholarship
+
2023
Project Grant, Sparx Space, Migros-Kulturprozent
+
2022
Project Grant, Kulturamt Thurgau
+
2021
Nomination, Solos and Sights, Internationale Bodenseekonferenz
+
2021
Prize, Stiftung Jugendförderung Thurgau
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2019
Prize, Think Tank Thurgau
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PERFORMANCES (selection)
2023
Finsterbusch Collective, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich
+
2023
Varieté Show, Baby Angel, Zürich
+
2022
Book Vernissage, Zentralwäscherei Zürich
+
2022
TOUR DE NOUVELLE SUISSE, Kaserne Basel
+
2022
ZATO.Space, ETH Zürich
+
2021
Not the same procedure, M2act, Gessnerallee, Zürich
+
2021
Not the same procedure, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich






++++++++++++++ “Strike [at] the Border” Exhibition at Kunstraum Aarau 11.04. – 11.05. 2025 In Conversation with Charles Heller (Border Forensics), Lucia Bernini and Rohit Jain ++++++++++++++ Panel Discussion: Neutrality Model at Aargauer Kunsthaus  20.02.2025 ++++++++++++++  Seminar at elective course Unmasking Space, Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich 03.04.2025 ++++++++++++++ Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, Workshop Contribution: Italian Imperial Ecologies  ++++++++++++++ 15–18.09.2025. Carleton University, Canada, Conference: Cartographies of Loss: The Afterlives of War ‘Mapping the Environmental Turn: Climate, Violence, and the Healing of Post-Conflict Geographies’  ++++++++++++++ 19–21.09.2025 Ca’Buccari, Venice, Italy, Symposium:  Unmasking Space, Exchanges on Student Activism ‘Sensing Fire Ecologies‘