This project documents a series of riots between the inhabitants of Diar echems (Houses of the Sun) district in Algiers and the police that took place in October 2009. The violence erupted after the intervention of the security forces. The order came to evacuate makeshift shacks built on a football pitch adjacent to the city. The harsh conditions and lack of space in the small dwellings of this overcrowded city pushed the inhabitants to occupy the municipal stadium, they attempted to eventually transform it into a a slum. This space which existed as a playing field has become a location of contest. The post-its arranged on the light table, on which are listed accounts of things that can be contained in precarious housing and the number of people who can live there, suggest a potential slum plan that could have been built on the ground of football. Installed on the wall are nine fictional press clippings with the same text, created from reports after the events. On each one the text was hidden by tape leaving only a few words or sentences; pieces that evoke the space and people. Some elements refer to a disorder and encourage narration.
Diar Echems (Maisons du soleil), 2013 – 2014.
Post-its on Light box-table depicting football field, nine framed fictional news clippings and adhesive. Variable dimensions.
Commissioned for the Mosaic Rooms/AM. Quattan Foundation by aria (artist residency in Algiers), 2013-2014. Supported by Arts Council England.
Ce projet s’inspire d’une série d’émeutes qui ont opposé les habitants de la cité Diar echems (Maisons du soleil) à Alger aux forces de l’ordre en octobre 2009. Les violences ont éclaté après l’intervention des forces de l’ordre venues évacuer des baraques de fortune construites sur un terrain de football adjacent à la cité. Les conditions difficiles et le manque d’espace dans les petits logements de cette cité surpeuplée ont poussé les habitants à tenter de squatter le stade municipal pour se loger, le transformant à terme en bidonville. Cet espace censé être un terrain de jeu est devenu un terrain d’enjeux.
Les post-its disposés sur la table lumineuse, sur lesquels sont inscrites des listes de choses pouvant être contenues dans un logement précaire et le nombre de personnes pouvant y habiter, suggèrent un potentiel plan de bidonville qui aurait pu être construit sur le terrain de football.