In the 21st century, in which religion has once again become the basis for the creation of local and global communities and tensions, the territory of the Holy Land, the cradle of the three monotheist religions, has become a critical case.
The term ‘Status Quo’ refers to the codes that govern holy places shared by different religious groups. Initiated by the Ottomans in the mid-nineteenth century, later advanced under British and Jordanian rule, and still in use today by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it requires whoever is in power to maintain a delicate web of negotiations and agreements that allow contested sites to operate in their daily routines.
‘IN STATU QUO: Structures of Negotiation’ offers a contemporary reading of this unique, dynamic and ever-challenged phenomenon and its impact on the local landscape. Focusing on five major holy sites, it reveals the spatial and temporal strategies through which places in conflict manage to retain their modus vivendi. It further suggests the critical role of architecture in these complex and highly disputed territories.

Curators: Ifat Finkelman, Deborah Pinto Fdeda, Oren Sagiv, Tania Coen-Uzzielli