Bergsjön Living Room Project (Al-Madhafah)
August 2023

Kulturhuset Bergsjön

Artist: Sandi Hilal (DAAR)

Curated by: Reyhaneh Mirjahani

Commissioned by: Prototyp Göteborgs

Photos by: Reyhaneh Mirjahani
Thanks to Cecilia Helsing, Ida Lindberg and Kalle Skatt Söderström

Located between the domestic and the public sphere, Al-Madhafah, in Arabic, is the living room dedicated to hospitality. It has the potential to question the role of guest and host and give a different socio-political meaning to the act of hospitality. In Arabic culture, hospitality is traditionally seen as a temporary practice. This belief is reflected in the Hadith, which states that hospitality is for three days, and after that, it becomes an act of charity.

Al-Madhafah serves as both an architectural and political concept that challenges the rigid boundaries of public and private, guest and host, inclusion and exclusion, and it advocates for the rights of temporary people to assume the role of hosts rather than eternal guests.

August 2023, Al-Madhafah took the form of an intimate space at Kulturhuset Bergsjön aiming to host conversations, foster encounters, and facilitate collective discussions on topics like hospitality, belonging, and inclusion.