REBELLIOUS ROOTS
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        Rebellious Roots is an archaeological conceptual research experiment and an art installation that investigates the phenomenon of placelessness in the post-conflict African geography and urbanism, (the imaginary and the real) as an unconscious rebellion against the deterministic notion of historical dominant identities shaping contemporary landscapes, towards theorizing the present condition of place-making that inevitably transgresses both the state’s official city plans and the historical and traditional concept of place.. Towards in other words theorizing what I would call (The Unmaking of Place) in the times of urban crisis.

This project focuses on the African Libyan context, in particular the post-conflict city of Benghazi, which is considered a manifesto of the Rebellious Roots, with its deterritorialized morphology, and its constant emergence of other identities and differential lands. This project asks what if the Placeless Rebellious Roots represent a mechanism for liberation from the concept of traditional place and its helpless outdated values towards the contemporary economic, political and cultural challenges, such as urban trauma and globalization? Could the constantly produced rebellious roots of Benghazi be a miniature of a bigger African contemporary reality in ways that are not bound by a specific soil or ideology that was planted in the past?




Sarri Elfaitouri is a 24 year old conceptual architect, artists, art curator, and cultural activist based in Benghazi, Libya, and the founder of TAJARROD Architecture and Art Foundation. Sarri’s work is centered on an interdisciplinary synthesis between architecture, art, and the social sciences, dedicated to generating a critical understanding and attitude towards the built environment, and to investigating contemporary socio-cultural issues, identities and ideologies, and their impact on architecture and cities. His works manifest as: research, theoretical architectural projects, art curation, and collage art. He has published theoretical projects and essays online, and curated/participated in several art exhibitions locally and abroad.