Bartlett PhD student installation ‘Space of Refuge’ to open at London gallery

Space of Refuge: 10–15 March 2017

‘Space of Refuge’ is a spatial installation that has emerged out of extensive fieldwork research by Samar Maqusi, a PhD by Architectural Design student at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

The research investigates the spatial production and evolution of Palestinian refugee camps since the 1940s, situating this within a documented history of practices of different host countries and the precarious geo‐political situation in the Middle East.

Further, the installation examines how different policies in different host countries affect the architecture of the refugee camps, turning them into intensive forms of socio-political co-existence. It also highlights the question of what becomes of these urban spaces when they are left unresolved over a protracted period of time.

In conjunction with the installation, a Symposium will take place on 15 March 2017 at P21 gallery in Somers Town, which will gather scholars from UCL and beyond working on refugee studies, including Prof Murray Fraser (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture); Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (UCL Geography); Dr Camillo Boano (Bartlett DPU); Dr Adam Ramadan (Birmingham University); Dr Romola Sanyal (LSE); Dr Elaine Chase (UCL IOE) and Dr Estella Carpi (Bartlett DPU).

The Symposium will situate the issue of Palestinian refugees as a precursor of urgent matters of ‘refuge’ on a wider scale around the world. The latter will include discussions of conflict, resolution, protracted refugee status, host country policies, relationships between refugees and host countries, spatial production within refugee camps, socio-economic behaviour, cultural practices and such like. 

More information

• Exhition open 10–15 March 2017
• Address: P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD, UK

Space of Refuge Symposium

• 15 March 2017, 10.00–17.30
• Download the poster and programme

To learn more about Samar’s research, see her latest contribution to the Museum of Modern Art’s Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter

This event is supported by UCL’s Grand Challenges, UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies, and UCL’s Refuge in a Moving World.