The Digital Majlis is a prototype for a future art and educational space to be established by the Future Heritage Lab (FHL) in the Al Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, within the facilities of the humanitarian organization CARE. This camp was established in 2014 and currently houses approximately 40,000 Syrian refugees and is set to become the largest camp in the region with 150,000 people. My proposed facility would function as an analogy to a culturally specific social space of the MENA region, the majlis. The program of a social space is merged with artistic creation as an active form of cognition and cultural preservation. The prototype of the Digital Majlis presented a series of projects resulting from the collaboration between the MIT FHL and Syrian refugees from the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. Collectively, these projects explore how art, architecture, and design can address the loss of history, memory, and identity of displaced populations while fostering transcultural understanding. The furniture prototypes featured in the Digital Majlis are based on the understanding that art and culture are essential human needs and vital in conflict zones. In addition to the furniture, the installation features two other types of FHL research: the Design to Live: Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp and the Code of Ethics? (see individual project descriptions).
Concept and artistic direction: Azra Akšamija
Research and development: Azra Akšamija, Lillian Kology, James Addison, Melina Philippou.
Production: Azra Akšamija, Lillian Kology (mattresses, digital embroidery), James Addison (window installation), Melina Philippou (window installation, wall graphics, slideshow), Saleh Lhelo (FHL board), in addition to the team members of 1002
Inventions and Code of Ethics? (see individual project credits), refugees of the Al Azraq Refugee Camp
Sponsoring: MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, J-WEL Grant in Higher Education Innovation at MIT (exhibition).
The FHL work in Al Azraq Camp is supported by the HASS Research Grant, MISTI Global Seed Fund, MIT-Arab World Program, CAST Mellon Faculty Grant, Council for the Arts at MIT, MIT Center for International Studies, the German-Jordanian University (SABE), and CARE Jordan.
Installation, furniture, slideshow, graphics
Collaboration of the Future Heritage Lab with residents of the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan
Produced for the Affordable Housing exhibition of the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism (2018)
Materials: refugee wool blankets with digital embroidery, foam mattresses, vinyl cut window shade, photographs, FHL board, wall graphics, seven chocolate coins
Dimensions: mattresses: 76 x 152 x 15 cm; vinyl: six rolls 120 x 300 cm; FHL board: 25 x 70 x 2cm; photos and wall graphics: variable