Presenting “From Palestine: Our Past, Our Future”, by the Palestine Museum US

Palestine Museum US brings to Venice at Palazzo Mora an installation that focuses on the events of 1948 in Palestine, in the occasion of the Venice Biennial Architecture Exhibition Time Space Existence.

“From Palestine: Our Past, Our Future” is the largest exhibit in the building, occupying 150 square meters of the historic venue of Palazzo Mora.

The exhibition centers around the pivotal year of 1948, marked by the establishment of Israel on May 15th. This momentous event culminated with the creation of a Zionist Jewish state in Palestine, which involved the expulsion of its non-Jewish population.

By the close of 1948, 500 villages had been depopulated, and about 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes, finding refuge in camps that still endure today in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Many towns and villages were also renamed and the remnants of these communities were often obscured.

Faisal Saleh, founder and director of the Palestine Museum US and chief curator affirms that This exhibit shines a light on what happened in 1948 that most people of the world are not aware of.

 

The works of 19, mostly Palestinian artists and architects along with four faculty-advised teams of architectural students, are featured in several groups including, animated maps, virtual reality displays of reconstructed destroyed Palestinian villages, architectural student projects re-imagining four lost villages, artwork, photography, and textiles.

 

An animated map depicting 1948 Palestine offers a 10 minutes chronological visualization of village depopulation and destruction.

Four virtual reality videos simulate re-created villages and neighborhoods developed from archival photographs and maps. Eight video display monitors are used to showcase high-tech exhibits and student village projects.

Half the floor of the exhibit hall is substantially covered by a seven-meter-long walk-on map of 1948 Palestine. In the other half, a two-meter diameter disc holding a collage of 1,000 photographs from the Great March of Return (Gaza 2018-2019) will rotate once every minute.

Four historic B&W and four current color photographs feature Palestinians and Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon.

Artwork of different genres representing Nakba sentiments and a future free Palestine is showcased. Colorful painted and embroidered banners hang from the ceiling.

 

Participating artists and architects

Salman Abu Sitta, Ghassan Abu Laban, Alaa Albaba, Tala Alfoqaha, Nabil Anani, Samira Badran, Shaima’ Farouki, Jørgen Grinde, Hanin Haydar, Jacqueline Béjani, Samia Halaby, John Halakah, Margaret Olin, Sobhiya Hasan Qais, Taqi Spateen, Steve-Sabella, Zain Al Sharaf Wahbeh, Nisreen Zahda, Ola Zareini.

Featured student village projects

Qula (Architect Arwa Qalalwa) / Saffuriyya (Nayrouz Ali) / Suba (Majd Jahshan, Donia Alsalman, and Sajeda Alnaqrooz) / Suhmata (Maha Mansour, Alaa Hammad, and Asma Al Saqqa).

Presenting “From Palestine: Our Past, Our Future”, by the Palestine Museum US

Palestine Museum US brings to Venice at Palazzo Mora an installation that focuses on the events of 1948 in Palestine, in the occasion of the Venice Biennial Architecture Exhibition Time Space Existence.

  • Published: 19.09.2023
  • Category: In Focus
  • Subject: Participants
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