On the occasion of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale, (22 May to 21 November 2021), the Stockholm-based, artist and architectural collective DAAR – Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti (Professor of Architecture and Social Justice at the Royal Institute of Art), present Refugee Heritage, their new work and book published by the Royal Institute of Art and Art and Theory.
The book-dossier attempts to deactivate the claims of objectivity and universalism contained in the conventions followed by UNESCO in determining World Heritage status; it presents different narratives that do not fit within such statist discourse, reorienting heritage towards non-hegemonic forms of life and collective memory. By reusing, misusing and redirecting UNESCO World Heritage guidelines and criteria, Refugee Heritage challenges definitions of heritage and their colonial foundations, asking instead how architecture is mobilized as an agent of political transformation.
The publication of this book has been made possible with the generous support of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm; Iaspis, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists; Van Abbemuseum; Art Jameel in Dubai. The book was presented on the occasion of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, 2021.
Refugee heritage can be ordered here.
