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Critical Speculation

Decolonizing the Mind: TEDxRamallah Talk by Alessandro Petti

Alessandro Petti, director of DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency), talks about the work and approach of the practice. The talk was a part of the TEDxRamallah event, previously featured on arenaofspeculation.org and supported by contributors to the site.

The DAAR office was founded in 2007 with the aim of moving beyond simply describing the spatial practices of the Israeli occupation, and towards thinking about how to challenge the architecture of Israeli colonization, to subvert it and turn it against itself through acts of design and intervention. They propose to define ‘decolonization’ both as a means to think about the future and as a political practice in the present. For more on the critical approach of DAAR, see our previous interview with Alessandro.

A number of the other speakers at TEDxRamallah also addressed issues broadly relating to architecture, space, access and planning in the context of Palestine and the Israeli occupation, including Suad Amiry, Raja Shehadeh, Khaled Al-Sabawi and Sam Bahour. A full playlist of talks and performances from the main venue in Bethlehem is embedded below (click ‘next’ button on bottom left to browse through the talks).