Since their first work Stateless Nation was shown at the Venice Biennial in 2003, the artistic practice of Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti has explored the condition of permanent temporariness. Permanent temporariness is a way to describe contemporary life with all its uncertainty. From their architectural interventions in refugee camps to their work on history, education and the possibility of new political and social imagination, Hilal and Petti have consistently challenged the stories in the mainstream media with their own ideas about architecture, how words shape actions and how civic space shapes thinking.

These ideas are now gathered together for the first time in this publication. The book is organized around fourteen concepts that activate seventeen different projects. Each project is the result of a larger process of collaboration and is accompanied by individual and collective texts and interviews.

The launch of the book will be on 21st February and include an exhibition tour and series of discussions.

Programme book launch

13.00 – 14.00 - Exhibition tour with Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti
14.00 - Word of welcome and introduction by Charles Esche (moderator)

PART I: PERMANENT TEMPORARINESS
Lieven De Cauter, Anthony Downey, Nick Axel and Sara Arrhenius 

PART II: EXHIBITIONS THAT SPILL OVER INTO OTHER CONTEXTS
Magdalena Malm and others

PART III: THE RIGHT TO HOST AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE LIVING ROOM
Shafiq Kakar, Isshaq Al Barbary and others

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