Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) is an architectural studio, collective of architects and a residency program based in
Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur ( ar, بيت ساحور pronounced ; Palestine grid 170/123) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine. The city is under the administration of the Palestinian Nationa ...
,
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...
. DAAR was established to work on complex architectural problems in a region with strongly conflicting political forces, and is related to the Decolonizing Architecture Art Research collective.
Description
DAAR's work combines spatial interventions, theoretical writings and collective learning. It is dedicated to architectural experimentations on the reuse and transformation of
colonial architecture
Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their ...
military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for o ...
s, and empty villages, primarily in Palestine. "DAAR’s practice is centred on one of the most difficult dilemmas of political practice: how to act both propositionally and critically within an environment in which the political force field is so dramatically distorted."
History
DAAR was founded in 2007 in Beit Sahour by Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman. Its ideas that have been developed and disseminated throughout the region and abroad via exhibitions, seminars, videos and publications.Prins Claus Fonds (2010 profile Dozens of local and international architects and a large number of Artists,
film makers
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
and
activists
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...
work with DAAR.
Projects
DAAR worked on a project titled ''Refugee Heritage'', that engaged directly with
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
to nominate the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the Wast Bank to be become a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
. The project critically engaged with heritage as a concept.
In 2010 DAAR asked the lawyer Ghiath Nasser to file a petition in the Israeli courts to allow the width of the line partitioning Palestine to be a site for a new 'borderline state'.
Awards
In 2010, the Institute was honoured with a Prince Claus Award. The jury rewards its work
"for introducing a non-traditional approach to development in conflict and post-conflict situations, for providing valuable speculation on the future realities of disputed territories, for its critical challenge to outdated
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water ...
theories based on a more peaceful world, and for highlighting the role of architecture highlighting the role of architecture and visualisation in creating and altering the frontiers of reality."
DAAR received Foundation for Arts Initiatives (FfAI) grants in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2015.
DAAR was nominated for the Curry Stone Design Price, the Anni and Heinrich Sussmann Artist Award, the
New school
The New School is a private research university in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over ...
's Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics, and the Chrnikov Prize.
Co-founder, Alessandro Petti, received a 2016 Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism at Bard College.
Exhibitions
DAAR projects have been published and exhibited at the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, Home Works in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, NGBK in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
,
Sharjah Biennale
The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cul ...
, the Architecture Biennale
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
in London, the Oslo Triennial, the
Pompidou Centre
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris.
On January 27, 2012, DAAR exhibited at the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery. The exhibition was entitled ‘Common assembly’, and the "focal point of the exhibition is a large suspended staircase, representing a section at 1:1 scale where the lawless line cuts straight through the derelict Palestinian parliament building in Jerusalem" The parliament building is on both Israeli and Palestinian territory, causing the legal status of the building to be unknown. DAAR's 'Common assembly' questions the thickness or a border line and suggests that the line itself is an
extraterritorial
In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.
Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cla ...
zone.
Teaching
DAAR's members have taught lectured and published internationally including a term as guest professors at the Berlage Institute,
Bir Zeit University
Birzeit University (BZU; ar, جامعة بيرزيت) is a public university in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as charitable organization. It is accredited by the Ministry of H ...
, Bard-Al Quds, and Goldsmiths.
Alessandro Petti is currently Professor in Architecture and
Social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
at the
Royal Institute of Art
The Royal Institute of Art ( sv, Kungliga Konsthögskolan) is an institution in Stockholm, Sweden for higher education in art,