Space of Refuge: a new installation & symposium

The work asked difficult questions about space in a 'host country' and offered fascinating insights into the changes that took place in these 'temporary' camps over decades.

The installation, 'Space of Refuge', emerged out of extensive fieldwork research by Samar Maqusi, a PhD by Architectural Design student within the Bartlett School of Architecture. The work was funded partly through a Grand Challenge of Cultural Understanding small grant, supporting a collaboration between Professor Murray Fraser (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture) and Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (UCL Geography and the Refuge in a Moving World research network).

The installation was live from March 10-15, 2017 at the P21 Gallery in Somers Town, North London. The installation proved to be a great success, and was attended by a large group of visitors with diverse backgrounds from around London, and even beyond. The visitors vigorously engaged with the installation itself, challenging their own perceptions of space and movement, as well as pondering over the visual and audio pieces to be able to better situate their experience of the installation and materials within the real spatiality of the refugee camp. In addition, Ahmed Tobasi, a Palestinian refugee actor, director and theater writer from Jenin camp, spoke about his experience of growing up in Jenin camp and witnessing its destruction and reconstruction, as well as his determination to use art as a medium for his own emancipation, and that of others. 

The research investigated 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 examined 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 highlighted the question of what becomes of these urban spaces when they are left unresolved over a protracted period of time.

In conjunction to the installation, a symposium took place on 15 March 2017, at P21 gallery in London, gathering scholars from UCL and beyond working on refugee studies. The symposium situated the issue of Palestinian refugees as a precursor of urgent matters of 'refuge' on a wider scale around the world. This included discussions of conflict, resolution, protracted refugee status, host country policies, relationships between refugees and host countries, spatial production within refugee camps, socio-economic behaviour and cultural practices.

This work looks set to have an impact in the field for years to come. There will be several academic publications from the project team, including a UCL Press edited volume, Refuge in a Moving World: Interdisciplinary Conversation. The researchers plan to take this interdisciplinary collaboration further as there is a real shortage of spatial documentation inside Palestinian camps, especially data relating to the nature and transformation of spaces of refuge over a protracted period as these spaces begin to absorb new and overlapping groups of displaced people in the Middle East. There is a tentative plan to host another event in London aimed at expanding the discussion on refuge and hosting, to include questions on spatial behaviors in camps inhabited by multiple groups of refugees, as a stepping stone towards a larger bid.

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh said, "We very much look forward to continuing to support the UCL Grand Challenges work on Human Displacement, both through our ongoing collaborations and of course through our respective networks, including the UCL Refuge in a Moving World network."