Al-Madhafah: The Hospitality Room. Sandi Hilal

Located at the intersection of the domestic and public spheres, Al-Madhafah, in Arabic, signifies a room dedicated to hospitality. This space embodies the potential to affirm the rights of those temporarily residing in a new place—not only to host but also to avoid being perpetually seen as guests. It advocates for the right to carve out a life in a new destination without the pressure to leave behind ties to one’s homeland. In doing so, it mobilizes the notion of permanent temporariness as both an architectural and political concept, challenging the traditional binaries of inclusion and exclusion, public and private, guest and host.

The Al-Madhafah project is realized through a network of living rooms activated across various countries, including Sweden, Palestine, The Netherlands, Poland, France, and England, among others. Each installation, grounded in specific spaces and hosted experiences, creates an environment where the boundaries of hospitality and belonging are continually reimagined.

Sandi Hilal is an architect, artist, and educator. She co-founded DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency) with Alessandro Petti in Beit Sahour, Palestine. Their work, situated at the intersection of architecture, art, pedagogy, and politics, challenges dominant collective narratives and seeks to redefine concepts to shape active, collective, and common spaces. Over the last two decades, they have developed a series of research projects that are both theoretically ambitious and practically engaged in the struggle for justice and equality. In 2023, their commitment to these themes was acknowledged with the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, marking significant recognition of their work in architectural practice and theory, particularly their efforts towards decolonization in Palestine and Europe.