DESIGNS
By: Dylan Wang
Indigenous people in the post-settler of Canada have long suffered great inequalities and injustices from the beginning of colonization till today. At the intersection of transitional justice and architecture, the Itinerant Landback Museum aligns itself with a growing social movement calling for the dismantling of oppressive colonial systems and greater Indigenous land sovereignty. Architecture can contribute to new political spaces but can harm the movements it aims to support by supporting the legitimacy of the system in which it operates.
The Itinerant Landback Museum circumvents this by operating outside the dominant government’s purview. It consists of a decentralized cluster of square modular units that radically subverts normative understanding of land ownership by occupying public spaces in the middle of settler cities and bringing Indigenous issues to the forefront of public debate. A permanent Indigenous group that manages the museum forms connections with local groups and modifies the museum to suit local needs and context thanks to its modular structure.
The museum hosts public assemblies, events of listening/telling, activist exhibitions, public performances, and film screenings to encourage Indigenous-led collaboration towards meaningful solutions to systemic societal issues.
At night, the museum shifts its program towards responding to urgent needs by offering safe spaces, services, and resources to those in need. Every few months, the museum is disassembled and moved to a new city to repeat its method there. As it travels the country, it contributes to the emergence of a new understanding of the long-reaching effects of a colonial system and a collective commitment to its dismantlement for long-term peace and justice.
