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A Conversation about Dust

Ònix a la pedrera abandonada a la vora de Bou An Hifia (Algèria). © Jordi Marquès - Marbres Marquès / Fundació Mies van der Rohe

The Dust Pavilion research group, comprising the architect Olga Subirós and researchers and editors Joana Teixidor and Llorenç Bonet, is interested in the circularity that connects the extraction of Algerian onyx used by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich when they constructed the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, as well as the constant presence of Saharan dust in the air, which slowly and silently settles on the pavilion and the city. This circle connects Barcelona with the Sahara, suggesting a kind of ghostly return that sometimes awakens fears of radioactivity.

Dust Pavilion's research is based on the work of Samia Henni, a historian and curator whose projects address issues such as colonisation, war, resource extraction, deserts, forced displacement and gender dynamics. Dust Pavilion particularly connects with Colonial Toxicity: Rehearsing French Radioactive Architecture in the Sahara, which examines the nuclear programme that brought France to the Algerian Sahara, connecting spatial, social and environmental justice.

Henni will discuss Saharan dust intrusions and their impacts with Natalia Moreno, researcher at IDAEA-CSIC, an organisation dedicated to the detection and diagnosis of environmental challenges affecting ecosystem health from a cross-disciplinary perspective encompassing research in chemistry, biology, toxicology, hydrology, and geology.

The programme will continue with artist Lydia Ourahmane, who will present Tassili, a work created in the Algerian Sahara, foregrounding the tensions surrounding access, history, and the economic and social conditions that shape the place in relation to its inhabitants. The artist will be in conversation with Khaled Bouzidi, director of the Rhizome Contemporary Art Gallery in Algiers, who took part in the production of the work.

Programme:

5pm-5.15pm: Introduction to the day by Dust Pavillion
5.15pm-6.30pm: Presentations and conversation with Samia Henni and Natalia Moreno (IDAEA-CSIC)
6.30pm-7pm: Walk to the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion
7:30 pm: Conversation about the film Tassili by Lydia Ourahmane with the artist and Khaled Bouzidi, director of Rhizome in Algiers.