Common Assembly: Deterritorializing the Palestinian Parliament

This video by DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency) illustrates a reflection on the building that was to have become the Palestinian Parliament (but which was never used), on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The search for the structure’s true geographic location represents the beginning of the collective’s thorough study of the spaces set aside for political participation, intended to represent the geographic, political and social conditions of a community’s extra-territoriality. Inside the currently abandoned building, the act of reconstructing the borderline between Palestine and Israel demarcates a precise non-place. The passage from cartographic space to real space finds material and identificational repercussions in the community, and becomes a metaphor for historic and existential suspension, and deep uncertainty: the seemingly fine red line drawn on maps is thus transformed into a real place with strong visual and aesthetic impact, and becomes a genuine spatial concept.