The Fountains of Za’atari is a multidimensional project from artist Margherita Moscardini that has
been in development since 2015, based on research into refugee camps as urban spaces that are
destined to last. The Za’atari refugee camp was founded in 2012, located in a semi-desert area of
northern Jordan, to house Syrians fleeing conflict in their home country and it is recognised as the
fourth-largest city in Jordan in terms of its area.
This project aims to establish a system through which local governments and civic institutions can
buy life-size sculptures that reproduce the various courtyards with fountains in the Za’atari camp,
for display in public spaces across Europe. These sculptures should receive special jurisdiction that
includes elements of extraterritoriality.
The project The Fountains of Za’atari
includes a sculpture permanently
installed in Parco Alcide Cervi in
Reggio Emilia (since 14 April 2019),
a temporary exhibition at Collezione
Maramotti (14 April – 28 July 2019),
this publication in English, and the
corresponding Italian edition.
IT. Margherita Moscardini (n. 1981 a Donoratico, Livorno, dove vive e lavora) è un’artista italiana che attraverso la scrittura, il disegno e interventi in larga scala studia le trasformazioni urbane in termini di ambiente materiale, naturale e sociale analizzando contesti ritenuti paradigmatici del nostro tempo.
ENG Margherita Moscardini (b. 1981 in Donoratico, Livorno, where she lives and works) is an Italian artist who uses writing, drawing, and large-scale works to study urban transformations of the material, natural and social landscape, analysing emblematic contexts of our time.