Artist：DAAR Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency is a project by Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman
Date：2006~2009
Location：Oush Grab hill Beit Sahour (Bethlehem District), Palestine
Media/Type：Architectural design and artistic interventions
Commissioner：The materials and instrument used are photography, illustration, architectural drawings, models, photomountages. And the dimensions of the design project is variable, it changes according with the exhibit framework.
Researcher：Giusy Checola
Between the Arab land of Bethlehem and the desert of the Dead Sea at the top of the highest hill at the southern edge of the Palestinian city of Beit Sahour, there are several concrete buildings which form the heart of a former military base. In spite of the evacuation, the summit is still designated by the military as off-limit for Palestinians.
Another unique feature of the hilltop is that it serves as a temporary refuge for some of more than 500 million birds on their seasonal migration between North-eastern Europe and East Africa, that use the Jordan valley’s Jerusalem mountains as their flight corridor. Twice a year for a few days each autumn and Spring, tens of thousands of these birds land on the hilltop and its surroundings. Around them exists a rich micro-ecology of small predators and other wildlife gathers.
The intention of DAAR was never to renovate and convert the military base to suit another function, but just to let it to return to nature. In the various buildings, there are a number of evenly spaced holes in the outer walls of the architecture and these holes form a pattern. From a visual perspective, they form a different kind of architectural structure. The environmentalists and zoologists expect that these holes will be inhabited by some of the smaller-sized migratory birds, as well as some of the local species throughout the seasons. More then an architectural project, “Oush Grab” is an artistic vision of a future archaeology. It is a proposal for an alternative way to see and use a strategically located military fortress as an artistic intervention into the political struggle. |
