In the first term, the studio focuses on capturing lines of flight and moments of rupture and identifying possible sites of intervention that can invent new spacetimes for the ground. Initially, the studio will cultivate relationships and cross-pollination between disciplines, humans, and nonhuman constituents negotiated through care, kinship, and true collaboration. These include archaeologists, rocks, farmers, plants, anthropologists, artefacts, musicians, sound artists, sounds, business owners, footballers, and storytellers. 

The studio will then challenge the weaponization of archaeological sites as battlegrounds for colonization and occupation in Palestine today in close partnership with those constituents by identifying potential sites for intervention. This evidentiary collection will be harnessed virtually and designed to constantly progress on a living and breathing website dedicated to the studio. The website will be launched at the end of the first term and will continue to grow through the studio’s progression to uplift the knowledge production each year.

Possible Evidence:

Surface traces of manipulation and dispossession, including colonial archives, CCTV footage, iPhone footage, oral histories, physical records, sonic accounts, zoning laws and policies, GIS mapping, cartographic and surveillance data, and Geomolg analysis. 

The first term focused on building a Living Archive of the city of Akka that was then translated into multiple media, including a micro-site, a physical book, and a short film.

The studio worked together through three themes: 

Intergenerational City (stacks),

Systems of Violence (holes), 

and Social Ruptures (networks). 

The three groups investigated the city through one of these lenses and collected evidence to build a foundation for the studio to work from. 

The translation of the Living Archives into these forms allowed us to find ways to serve the Palestinian community in Akka by sharing the knowledge but also gave us a point to launch from in Term 2, which was focused on making. 

Although Term 1 is titled Conditions, it is not simply about collecting and revealing conditions as found, but more about revealing conditions through design decisions we made individually and collectively. 

1. INTERGENERATIONAL CITY

A deep dive into the stories of people and places from the lens of a continuous narrative in an institutionally hostile environment. These stories give us the context necessary to understand the complexities of an unfamiliar setting from a distance.

2. SYSTEMS OF VIOLENCE

This group analyzes the multiple forms of violence in play at the hands of the Israeli government as well as private factories in the vicinity of the city. Some of these include gentrification and forced migrations, pollution of the water infrastructure, as well as the violent condition of the diasporas in the distance. 

3. SOCIAL RUPTURES

Social ruptures are actions that resist and protest the systems of violence that have been forced upon the residents of the city by the oppressing and occupying force of the Israeli colonisers. These ruptures can manifest in many ways such as memorials, protests, community-led renovation, or even as a group of kids jumping off a wall into the ocean.