Current Power in Syria

What is the role of an architect, as citizen and designer, during a state of war? What are the exact methods of possible engagement during this popular uprising? How can creative actors and their associated practices, sometimes located abroad, directly contribute to the maintenance of human dignity and the re-production of hope at home? How can the power of those who have already lost so much be given physical form and expression? Can the contemporary revolutionary moment still call into question existing distinctions between buildings and monuments, architectures and infrastructure, art and everyday life? Can it transform and potentially overcome all whilst simultaneously attempting to forge a new understanding of our expectations from our future states?

This project is an act of creative resistance, one that takes power literally. In collaboration with a photographer and a blacksmith, we built a windmill in the besieged Damascus Ghouta to generate electricity. Representations of this windmill, its people and powers were shown at the Sixth Marrakech Biennale.

Date of work: 2016

Location: Syria

Publication: Current Power in Syria, 2016.

Exhibition: Marrakesh Biennale 2016.