A headline-hitting design installation on show at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) will find a home in Palestine’s contested Cremisan Valley. While we wait (2017), by the Palestinian architects Elias and Yousef Anastas, is inspired by the legal battle over the stretch of land between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The Israeli government initiated plans to route the West Bank barrier through the valley in 2006, prompting the local Christian community to organise weekly prayer protests at the site. They lost the case in 2015, when Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the wall. The V&A will host the architects’ sculpture as part of this year’s London Design Festival (until 24 September). The lattice structure, made of 500 stone elements from different regions of Palestine, is intended to act as a multi-religious meditation space. After the festival, the piece will travel to the OMA-designed Concrete art space in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue in time for Dubai Design Week (6-18 November). Crucially, the monument will wind its way to Palestine; the piece is “destined to be installed permanently in the Cremisan valley where it will act as a live monument and gathering space owned by the community”, according to the V&A.
Mikaela Burstow