Qattan's Salon
Jaffa | 2017 [IL]
During the research I made for the “Split-Complete” intervention I realized the Tel-Aviv municipality gave the house in 2009 to the pre-military preparatory school of the Reformist Judaism Movement for it to use it as dormitory, school, and base for voluntary, cultural and communal involvement activities in Jaffa.
Since most of the population in the area is Palestinian, that decision contains explosive potential of creating unhealthy friction between the two different populations. In order to allow people see the diverse layers of the building I conducted a public tour, leading a series of meetings with experts, stakeholders and residents. Each one shared with the audience their own perspective regarding the site. We discussed the house’s past as the home of the Qattan family, its present as a conflict arena and future possible/desired plans.
In terms of its contemporary spatial context the house's sinew is its public potential, but in its current state it functions merely as a lacuna. The plan designated by the municipality is taken as an insult by the residents, who were not included in the process of decisions making at all. Therefore, following the tour I screened Kamal Aljafari’s movie ‘Port of Memory’ (2010), which deals with the geographical and political context of the building in a poetic manner. By doing so I wished to implement the communal potential and suggest an alternative to the current plan.
Photos by: Sophie shaar shannir, Vered Navon
Since most of the population in the area is Palestinian, that decision contains explosive potential of creating unhealthy friction between the two different populations. In order to allow people see the diverse layers of the building I conducted a public tour, leading a series of meetings with experts, stakeholders and residents. Each one shared with the audience their own perspective regarding the site. We discussed the house’s past as the home of the Qattan family, its present as a conflict arena and future possible/desired plans.
In terms of its contemporary spatial context the house's sinew is its public potential, but in its current state it functions merely as a lacuna. The plan designated by the municipality is taken as an insult by the residents, who were not included in the process of decisions making at all. Therefore, following the tour I screened Kamal Aljafari’s movie ‘Port of Memory’ (2010), which deals with the geographical and political context of the building in a poetic manner. By doing so I wished to implement the communal potential and suggest an alternative to the current plan.
Photos by: Sophie shaar shannir, Vered Navon
