ABSTRACT
Problematising the idea of heritage as something inherited or allotted from the past, this chapter explores the complex nexus between contemporary art, architecture and strategies that aim to safeguard against forced displacement. Focusing primarily on Palestine and on the work of Decolonising Architecture Art Residency (DAAR), it analyses how art practice engaged with tangible heritage troubles the concept of ‘host’ communities, whilst making visible forms of ‘humanitarian occupation’. Drawing comparison with refugee housing constructed in Greece in the wake of the population exchanges of the 1920s, the chapter goes on to discuss the concept of ‘architectures of failure’ and contemporary ambivalence toward the preservation of refugee tangible heritage. Building upon Chiara de Cesari's notion of ‘anticipatory representation’ and exploring the ways in which tangible heritage projects may be used as means of protecting territory in a context of settler colonialism and occupation, Chapter 2 concludes with discussion centred on the intersection between heritage, praxes of displacement and speculative futures.
