Open Space 2024
16 February 2024 - 16 June 2024
Ilaria Palmieri
In the project To be a host in a hosting country, designer Ilaria Palmieri works with a self-developed method of spatial design. based on hospitality, as a tool for empowerment. In Open Space she shows the results of her work in asylum seekers’ centres throughout the Netherlands, where she gives the temporary residents a say in the layout and design of the spaces in which they live. Her approach goes beyond ‘participation’: she strives for co-production in which the experiences of marginalised communities take the lead.
To be a host in a hosting country. Hospitality as empowerment in asylum seekers’ centres
The exhibition To be a host in a hosting country: Hospitality as empowerment in asylum seekers’ centres is the result of Ilaria Palmieri’s final master’s project at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Palmieri’s research focuses on the social, spatial, and political dynamics of temporary living conditions in asylum seekers’ centres in the Netherlands. The focus is on understanding how these dynamics can influence urban planning policies for such structures.
While migration is often discussed on a national or continental scale, this project delves into the everyday lives of migrants and how they navigate legal mechanisms and the forces of exclusion within the spaces where they find shelter, work and live. Ilaria introduced a participatory practice, The Art of Invitation, in various asylum seeker centres in the Netherlands, empowering participants with spatial agency in temporary structures far from home. The aim is to start a conversation, using whatever medium the participants prefer, to spark reflections on claiming a space in the centre by being a host. The workshop transforms these reflections into action, evaluating each context and empowering participants by encouraging activities they could take control of. This project challenges traditional notions of public and private space and offers a proposal for asylum seekers’ centres, introducing hospitality as a driver for spatial interventions.
About Ilaria Palmieri
Ilaria Palmieri is a social space designer and researcher based in the Netherlands. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 2022. She combines social design and participatory practices to research hostile living conditions. Her work was exhibited at the Dutch Design Week in 2022. Together with Georgina Pantazopoulou, she co-founded the research and design duo Common Ground Practice, which focuses on creating a safe space for marginalised communities and establishing a new dominant memory in spatial practice. Recently, Palmieri was a research assistant at V8 Architects in Rotterdam, contributing to the exploration of the mental metabolism of the Venice Architecture Biennale. She has also been a teaching assistant for the Master of Interior Architecture at the Royal Academy of Art and is editor of the Italian online magazine Tre Sequenze.