In its broadest sense, ‘critical speculation’ could be described as the creative application of detailed knowledge of the spatial conflict in a manner devised to expose its fault-lines and to provoke critical debate and practice. As an example, the act of design – ‘paper architecture’ – allows for the selective adherence to (or subversion of) the political and legal constraints of the dominant spatial regime. In turn, this defines a platform on which to propose future plans (provocative, aspirational or eminently realisable), to frame alternative narratives of the present, or simply to extrapolate the logic of the dominant forces to their ultimate spatial conclusion.
The right to history, to individual and collective memories of the past, and to a self-determined perspective on the future were at the core of the Nakba commemorations across the world on 15th May. The Subjective Atlas of Palestine, edited by Annelys de Vet and published by 010 Publishers, seems to offer an embodiment of […]
This past weekend the world watched as Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank marched on the recognised and unrecognised borders of Israel to mark Nakba Day. This by no means represents the first attempt by Palestinians to return to their homeland. In fact, against the odds, many thousands risked their lives […]
Today in Cairo, Fatah, Hamas and the other main political factions in the occupied Palestinian territories announced a reconciliation agreement promising new democratic elections in Gaza and the West Bank “within a year”.(1) However, this development intersects with another timeline as Salam Fayyad’s two year ‘state building’ initiative comes to its conclusion in the West […]
On Saturday 16th April, TEDxRamallah, a remarkable transnational event will be taking place in Bethlehem, Amman and Beirut, to be streamed on the same day to venues in more than 20 cities across the world, from Cairo to New York. Asserting “the power of culture over the culture of power”,(1) in the words of the […]
arenaofspeculation.org presents original extracts from ‘Narratives of Return’, a forthcoming exhibition investigating the spatial and architectural dimensions of a return of Palestinian refugees.
by Ahmad Barclay An article published in the Società Italiana di Scienze Psicosociali per la Pace (Italian Society of Psycho-Social Sciences for Peace) journal “Pace, Conflitti e Violenza”, featured on this site last week. (Republished on arenaofspeculation.org with permission from the author.) My personal interest in the spatial politics of Israel-Palestine was kindled through long […]
Società Italiana di Scienze Psicosociali per la Pace (Italian Society of Psycho-Social Sciences for Peace) has just published an online issue of its journal Pace, Conflitti e Violenza (Peace, Conflict and Violence) devoted to DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture | Art Residency). This monograph bringings together a collection of articles, interviews and diaries from current and former […]
Sedek, A Journal on the Ongoing Nakba, has been published in Hebrew by Zochrot since 2007. Three years after the publication of their first issue they have translated, together with Badil (Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights), a collection of articles from Sedek dealing with promoting practices, visions and possibilities for the return […]
A new online publication offering a contextual framing of architectural intervention within the arena of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Linking contemporary acts of ‘critical spatial practice’ on the ground with the wider trajectory of the spatial struggle.