Across a region where skylines are constantly rewritten and cities evolve under rapid transformation, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial Sharjah Architecture Triennial presents one of the most urgent cultural propositions of 2026. Its major exhibition, “A Journey into Architecture Archives: Baghdad, Damascus, Tunis,” reframes architecture not as static heritage, but as a living, contested memory system.
Curated by architect and researcher George Arbid, the exhibition runs until 12 July 2026 in Sharjah, and brings together archival material, architectural drawings, models, and contemporary interpretations that trace the shifting histories of three deeply layered cities: Baghdad, Damascus, and Tunis.
Rather than presenting architecture as completed form, the exhibition positions it as something continuously rewritten by politics, displacement, ambition, and erasure. It asks a simple but destabilizing question: what remains of a city when its buildings are gone, altered, or never built at all?
The Archive as a Living Space
At the heart of the exhibition is a radical reinterpretation of the archive itself. Architectural documents—often treated as fixed records—are instead presented as unstable and evolving materials. Hand-drawn plans, fragile manuscripts, and urban studies are placed alongside films and models that reconstruct lost or imagined structures.
This approach transforms the archive from a storage system into an active field of negotiation, where memory is constantly reconstructed rather than preserved intact.
The three cities at the center of the exhibition each carry their own fragmented urban histories. Baghdad reflects cycles of modernization and destruction; Damascus holds layers of continuity disrupted by conflict; Tunis reveals shifting identities shaped by postcolonial transformation. Together, they form a collective narrative of Arab urban memory—unstable, incomplete, and deeply human.
Between Presence and Absence
A defining strength of the exhibition lies in its attention to absence. Visitors encounter not only what exists, but what no longer exists—or never existed at all. Unbuilt projects and demolished landmarks are given equal weight to surviving structures, creating a spatial dialogue between presence and loss.
In this sense, architecture becomes a language of traces. It speaks through gaps, fragments, and unfinished visions. The exhibition suggests that cities are never truly complete; they are ongoing negotiations between memory, ambition, and disappearance.
Reclaiming Architectural Memory
In a region where urban landscapes are often shaped by rapid development, conflict, and reconstruction, the exhibition raises critical questions about authorship and preservation. Who has the authority to define architectural memory? What happens when heritage is erased or rewritten? Can archives become tools for reclaiming lost histories?
By bringing together historical documentation and contemporary artistic responses, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial positions itself as more than an exhibition platform—it becomes a space for rethinking how cities are remembered, documented, and imagined.
Exhibition Details
- Title: A Journey into Architecture Archives: Baghdad, Damascus, Tunis
- Venue: Sharjah Architecture Triennial Sharjah Architecture Triennial
- Curator: George Arbid
- Duration: Until 12 July 2026
- Format: Archival exhibition, architectural research, film, models, and documentation
A Regional Reflection
Ultimately, the exhibition positions architecture as more than physical structure—it becomes a repository of collective memory shaped by survival, loss, and reinvention. In doing so, it reflects a broader truth about the Arab world’s urban condition: cities are not fixed entities, but living archives in constant transformation.
Through Baghdad, Damascus, and Tunis, the exhibition does not attempt to reconstruct a singular narrative. Instead, it embraces fragmentation as its core language—suggesting that the future of architectural memory lies not in preservation alone, but in interpretation, dialogue, and re-imagination.
