Bawabet Yafa
Jaffa Gate
Video still from On That Day, directed by Mohanad Yaqubi, part of the installation Bawabet Yafa | Jaffa Gate
Bawabet Yafa | Jaffa Gate by Riwaq , Khaldun Bshara
PSE 2016, Forum Expanded
© Mohanad Yaqubi
The multimedia installation Bawabet Yafa questions the notion of heritage and memory in Palestine by looking into the space of the Jaffa Gate through the lens of early photography in Palestine and the lively memories of Wasif Jawhariyyeh. This narrative tells an alternative story of the relationship between the material past and the national imagination that takes future generations into account and shows that the built environment, although not recognized as heritage, was part of the spatial discourse related to knowledge production about past events (in the future). Bawabet Yafa makes it possible to speculate, “What would have happened if Jawhariyyeh had kicked Ashbee’s* butt?”
*Charles Robert Ashbee was the appointed civic adviser to the British Mandate of Palestine and responsible for removing the clock tower of the Jaffa Gate. Wasif Jawhariyyeh was his secretary.
Crew
| Research | Khaldun Bshara |
| Director | Mohanad Yaqubi of the video “On That Day”, Riwaq, Khaldun Bshara |
| Set Construction | Yousef Taha 3D model |
World Sales
Produced by
RIWAQ – Centre for Architectural Conservation
Additional information
RIWAQ in Zusammenarbeit mit Yara Sharif & Nasser Golzari
RIWAQ – Centre for Architectural Conservation is an NGO founded in 1991 in Ramallah, Palestine by architect and writer Suad Amiry. RIWAQ’s main aim is the preservation of historic centers in rural Palestine. RIWAQ has succeeded in shifting the focus of cultural heritage preservation from the physicality and materiality of historic buildings to focusing on the quality of people’s lives and the quality of the private and public spaces in which they live. This is perhaps best exemplified by RIWAQ’s ability to provide some 120 community/cultural centers in 80 villages and towns, half of which were spaces for women and children.
RIWAQ’s Team: Suad Amiry (Lead Architect), Khaldun Bshara (Co-Director), Shatha Safi (Co-Director), Michel Salameh, Aya Tahan, Dana Abbas, Saja Mansour, and Yara Bamieh.
Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari are award-winning architects and academics with an interest in design as a mean to facilitate and empower “forgotten” communities, while also interrogating the role of architectural politics and social commitment. Their work has been exploring new means to rethink the Palestinian landscape through speculative scenarios and live projects. Combining research with design, their work runs parallel between the architecture practice NG Architects, London and the design studio at the University of Westminster and their design-led research group Palestine Regeneration Team (PART).
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020
Khaldun Bshara
Khaldun Bshara, born in 1972 in Palestine, is an architect, restorer, and anthropologist who lives and works in Ramallah. He is the Director of Riwaq Centre in Ramallah, where he has worked since 1994. Bshara has carried out many architectural design and restoration projects and is the author of a number of books and articles. Bshara’s work explores the relation between space and identity formation. Particularly, he is interested in margins, peripheries, or liminal spaces that challenge grand identity narratives and grand theories on space.
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017