01.06.07

FAST publication at NU: 'Make-over extremo', article on the Caucasus NU, the magazine of the architectural department of the University of Coimbra, published in its 'Poder' issue (#30) an article of Malkit Shoshan and Christian Ernsten on forms of destruction and reconstruction in post-Soviet Karabakh.

 

03.06.07

As we discovered a counter website to our website, we would like to declare:

The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory, would like to support actions against violence, human rights violations and the oppression of minorities around the world as well as, of course, actions against anti-Semitism.

01.06.07

The story of Ein Hud's restaurant

The village of Ein Hud is planned and developed by one person. Mohammed Abu al Hayja worked for more than 20 years at the Israeli National Development and Planning Committee as an engineer. At the same time, he built and developed the village of Ein Hud, where his family settled during the Naqba, and which was until recently entirely illegal.

Mohammed Abu Abu al Hayja’s work for Ein Hud essentially took place in three different steps. The first phase entailed getting recognition from the government and engaging the planning procedures of the state. The second phase consisted of giving a public face to the village in the form of a restaurant, which also brings work. The third phase, community planning with the help of an NGO, consists of developing the village further for tourism, while using it also as a platform for education about the plight of the Palestinians in Israel. During all this time, from 1948 till now, Abu al Hayja family have had to invent ways of surviving in an inhospitable environment, leading to a series of inventions for an architectural resistance.

 

 

28.05.07

On 30 May 2007 FAST’s interview at the NAi.

 

 

 

 

The interview is another step in our attempts to unfold and challenge the Israeli planning system.

 

Architecture as a tool for cultural survival: the story of Ein Hud told by its mayor and planner, Muhammad Abu el Hayja

 

Interviewer: Chris Keulemans, is writer, journalist and a former director of De Balie, a cultural and political center, Amsterdam

 

Place: F.A.S.T. hall of the ‘Better World Another Power’ exhibition at the Netherlands Architecture institute, 3^rd floor, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam

 

5-6pm: interview with Muhammad Abu el Hayja

 

After 6pm: discussion, tour through exhibition, contributions, drinks

 

 

 

 

26.05.07

More on the Biennale program

debates:

Open! Strategies for A Better World

May 29

Activism! Strategies for A Better World

with Jeanne van Heeswijk, Dennis Kaspori, Damon Rich (CUP), Malkit Shoshan (FAST) and their guests.

21.05.07

Invitation to our exhibition openning @ the Netherlands Architecture Institute

24 May 2007  18:40  an openning party @ the NAi, Rotterdam

21.05.07

FAST Contibuition to Volume

+Lifta after Zionist planning +Challenging UNESCO policies +TCN's in Iraq and Afghanistan +IDP's and reconstruction team in Afghanistan +an overview of our new  +projects in the South Caucasus

and more. . .

20.04.07

FAST exhibition - A Better World - Another Power -  at the Netherlands Architecture Institute from May 24 - October 21 2007.

The exhibition is in collaboration with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, which this year takes the theme of Power - Producing the Contemporary City.

29.03.07

Impressions of the workshop results

23.03.07

Georgia Today on the Tbilisi workshop,  an article by Ruso Strelkova.

12-19.03.07

FAST Workshop in the State Academy of Fine Arts, Tbilisi (Georgia). The workshop is part of Territory of Desire project, made in collaboration with Partizan Publik. The theme of the workshop was 'The Resourcefulness and Transformation of Soviet Typologies'. We have explored the transformation of Soviet blocks, industrial areas and displacement issues in Tbilisi.

- Soviet Blocks

- Industrial area (Kirov factory)

 - Displacement (Hotel Abkhazia)

07.02.07

FAST presentation in the Rietveld academy together with Partizan Publik and Dirk Jan Visser.

29.01.07

FAST exhibited the Lifta project in the EU parliament building in Brussels (from the 29th January 2007 till the 3February 1st.)

FAST Call on the EU Parliament to use their influence in making a change by reintroducing the human scale to abstract plans that violate human rights on base of ideological agendas.

The fate of Israel and the fate of Palestine are bound together. The destruction of the country’s genuine cultural heritage is a threat to future sustainability, not just of Palestine and Israel but also of the region and of the world.

At FAST, we truly believe that a just solution for Lifta will form a vital step in reconciliation process between the nations, between Israel and Palestine.

Images will be available soon...

11.12.06

FAST condemns the destruction of Tawil abu Jarwal, a Bedouin village in the Negev.

 FAST researches shows that the destruction of the village is part of a larger land grab plan. Since 1948, the state of Israel developed poli- cies to occupy the Negev. In the recent years, the Israeli government approved many plans and masterplans to build on top of these villages.

The destruction of Tawil abu Jarwal is another step in the execution of these plans, and yet proves another series of basic human rights violation of the Bedouin population in the Negev.

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02.09.06

PETITION TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE VENICE BIENNALE
SEPTEMBER 2006

There are no memorials in Israel to the Naqba, the Palestinian tragedy of
displacement and dispossession, where  the intention of transfer and
exclusion led to the destruction and elimination of 580 Palestinian villages
towns and cities. Even today, this dispossession and humiliation goes on in
Gaza and the West Bank, with the destruction of their heritage in the
historic cities of Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho. This is
particularly ironic when the subject of the Biennale is the celebration of
cities.