We are pleased to announce that DAAR—Decolonizing Architecture Art Research, an architecture/art practice convened by Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Kyong Park Prize for Art and Architecture. Established to honor the legacy of Storefront’s founder Kyong Park, the prize recognizes individuals, collectives, or firms whose work advances critical practices at the intersection of art, architecture, and politics, and provides an unrestricted award of 25,000 USD to support the continuation of their work.
For over two decades, DAAR has produced a body of work that is both intellectually rigorous and politically grounded, addressing spatial and territorial injustices through research, design, pedagogy, and public engagement. Much of this work has been developed in close collaboration with communities in Palestine, under conditions of ongoing occupation and colonization, where questions of space, displacement, and governance are lived realities. Their practice has been especially influential in rethinking the role of architecture beyond construction—instead foregrounding its capacity to interrogate systems of power, displacement, and governance. Through projects such as the Refugee Heritage, the Al-Madafha-The living room, the Concrete Tent and their long-standing engagement with questions of exile, return, and the politics of land, DAAR has developed a critical framework that continues to shape discourse across disciplines. In recent years, DAAR’s work has critically reexamined the social, political, and economic effects of fascist and colonial heritage while exploring new collective uses, most notably through the Entity of Decolonization in Sicily, a practice grounded in critical reuse, collective inhabitation, and ongoing assembly.
DAAR’s selection follows a global nomination and review process developed over the past two years. This award emerges from multiple stages of evaluation by a distinguished interdisciplinary jury composed of Negar Azimi, Thomas Keenan, Manuela Moscoso, Marina Otero Verzier, Eugenie Tsai, and Mabel O. Wilson. Their statement reads:
“DAAR’s work shows that architecture and political life are inseparable. Their practice is grounded in lived realities and long-term engagement. Their projects rework the very terms of spatial justice, confronting power, displacement, and colonial spatial regimes, while sustaining a collective desire for life even in conditions that deny its flourishing.”
The jury recognized DAAR not only for the consistency and depth of their work, but for their pedagogical dimension and its enduring influence on subsequent generations of practitioners worldwide. Their ability to navigate seamlessly between art, architecture, and political thought reflects a commitment to expanding the field itself, an approach that resonates deeply with the ethos of both Kyong Park and Storefront.
In future iterations, this biannual prize will remain intentionally unrestricted, with no application process, and no expectations or requirements placed on the recipients. It is designed to provide time, space, and resources for those who operate across disciplines and often sit on the margins of conventional institutional frameworks.
DAAR’s selection as the inaugural recipient underscores the significance of a practice that has persistently challenged dominant narratives of space and sovereignty while proposing alternative modes of inhabitation, learning, and collective life. In doing so, their work exemplifies the kind of critical, risk-taking, and contextually grounded practice that the Kyong Park Prize seeks to support.
Ceremony
The award ceremony will take place on June 26 in Borgo Rizza, in the municipality of Carlentini, Sicily, during the Annual Gathering of the Entity of Decolonization (June 22–27), a long-term site of decolonial practice initiated by DAAR, set within a semi-abandoned former fascist rural settlement built in 1940 by the regime through the Ente di Colonizzazione del Latifondo Siciliano, now reoriented through processes of collective use and critical conservation.
DAAR will give a public lecture at 5pm, followed by responses from members of the jury and Kyong Park, opening the discussion to other contexts, geographies, and possible alliances. In this sense, the event will not only mark a recognition, but also serve as a platform to reflect on the ongoing emergence of different “souths” within the so-called North, and on how struggles across different sites, from Palestine to Southern Italy and beyond, can resonate and form new constellations. To learn more about the Entity of Decolonization, watch here.
CONTACT
For further details about the inaugural Kyong Park Prize ceremony in Sicily please contact info@storefront.nyc.
For further information about the program and how to participate in the Annual Gathering of the Entity of Decolonization, please contact entityofdecolonization@gmail.com
