Nottingham Trip; Part 2

The second exhibition we saw at the Nottingham Comtemp was by a group called DAAR, (Decolonizing Architecture/Art Residency).

DAAR is based in Beit Sahour, just outside Bethlehem. Their aim is to re-purpose Israeli architecture and make something better of it. Their definition of 'decolonizing' implies the dismantling of dominant structure, for example, the legal, military and financial structures for the benefit of a single group.

Most of the exhibition we saw was about 'The Lawless Line', this is a 5 meter wide band that runs over fields, roads, gardens and even a mosque. The Lawless Line is a stretch of land that basically belongs to no-one, or so I understand it, this is most problematic for both Palestines and Israelis as it's land that neither of them can do anything with. 

One of the Palistinian Parliament buildings started to be built on this line, eventually though the construction was halted and now the building sits in limbo, part of it is in Palestinian territory, part in Israeli territory and then there's the line. The 5 meter wide band which runs along both but belongs to neither of the legal territories. 

The part of the installation I liked best, not gunna lie some of it went right over my head, was a large black staircase the represented the line going through the parliament building. It stretched at least 15 meters across the room and many meters in the air at each side. There was a flat section in the middle which we were able to stand on to look directly up each end of the staircase. It was supported by metal poles and strong strings, I really wanted to see if I could navigate my way through the strings and get to the top so I could look down at it, it also made me want to travel to the actual building so I could see the line properly in comparison to the building and it's surroundings.

This exhibition was both similar to but very different from Thomas Demands work. Both exhibitions made small objects look and feel so much bigger, so immersive. But also the exhibitions are kind of like mirrors of each other, Demands work takes scale models and shows them at a large scale, whereas DAAR's work takes life size problems and shows them to scale on a map. I prefered Thomas Demands work as much of the underlying meaning and politics of DAAR's work flew over my , but also because I found it worked better for me. When there is too much meaning and force behind a body of work I feel like I'm being forced to feel certain things or think certain things about it.