Sites in Conversation

A two-day symposium of readings, discussions, and shared meals as part of that unfolds across Sharjah as part of Sharjah Architecture Triennial’s DAAS programme. DAAS is Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Studies, a programme with no fixed curriculum but instead an environment where “knowledge emerges through encounters, conversations, and shared practices”.

The DAAS programme moves between different sites: from Sharjah to Sicily, from Palestine to Stockholm, “and in the everyday contexts participants bring with them … This mobility reflects the shared condition of displacement, while also rooting work in situated struggles”.

So each session is intended to unfold as a dialogue shaped by lived experiences and research. The programme:

Day One Saturday 1 November 10am to 6pm
Al Qasimiyah School, Sharjah City

Led by May Al-Dabbagh, Zoe Butt, Charles Esche, and Shahram Khosravi, these sessions have no fixed topics; instead they invite improvisation, allowing unexpected connections and solidarities to emerge.

Day Two Sunday 2 November 2m to 7pm
Concrete Tent, Al Madam (transportation provided)

The final gathering reflects on conversation as the central methodology of DAAS: “in this shared space, the art of conversation becomes both a method and a horizon for future encounters – and for the forthcoming iteration of ‘DAAS in Cairo’.