Dima Srouji’s 'The Rule of Superposition 2' at Art Jameel’s Global Positioning System

Palestinian architect, artist and researcher Dima Srouji presents The Rule of Superposition 2 as part of Global Positioning System, the major group exhibition currently on view at Art Jameel. Bringing together over forty artists across Dubai and Jeddah, the exhibition examines systems of mapping, navigation and movement, questioning how territories are imagined, constructed and controlled.

 

At the heart of Srouji’s practice is an investigation into archaeology as both a scientific discipline and a political tool. The Rule of Superposition 2 consolidates years of research into the layered histories of Palestine, focusing particularly on Jerusalem and its complex subterranean landscape. Through a large-scale installation, the work combines mapped surfaces of significant religious and historical sites—including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock—with speculative future archaeological sites and existing underground remains.

 

Drawing from the archaeological principle of superposition, whereby deeper layers are understood to be older than those above them, Srouji uses the concept as both a material and conceptual framework. Rather than presenting Jerusalem as a singular, fixed entity, the work reveals the city as a dense accumulation of histories, memories and traces. The mapped surfaces challenge official narratives that seek to homogenise the city, instead exposing a heterogeneous network of overlapping stories embedded within its ground.

For Srouji, archaeology extends beyond excavation and preservation. It becomes a means of questioning who has the authority to narrate history and how knowledge is produced.

 

The installation foregrounds traces that are often overlooked or erased, offering an alternative understanding of Jerusalem through its tactile and material realities. Scientific methodologies are brought into dialogue with memory, spirituality and personal experience, creating a layered portrait of a city continually shaped by competing narratives.

 

Materiality plays a central role in the work. Srouji employs graphite, a substance commonly associated with drawing and mark-making, yet one whose history is deeply intertwined with warfare and technologies of power. Historically used in the production of cannonballs to improve their durability and precision, graphite later became essential to military technologies, including nuclear reactors used in the production of weapons-grade plutonium. By incorporating graphite into the installation, Srouji highlights the often-overlooked connections between extraction, knowledge production, conflict and control.

 

Presented within the context of Global Positioning System, The Rule of Superposition 2 resonates with the exhibition’s broader exploration of navigation, territory and contested landscapes. While many contemporary navigation systems reduce place to coordinates and routes, Srouji’s work insists on the complexity of what lies beneath the surface. It proposes a form of orientation grounded not in technological precision, but in layered histories, embodied memory and the persistence of traces.