In Conversation: Wail by Proxy - Architecture, Witness, and Responsibility

Join architects Guy Margolin Aberjel and Peter Newman to discuss Gaza, media silence, and the architect's role in crisis

Join the Oxford Human Rights Festival 2026 for In Conversation: A Wail by Proxy. Join artist Guy Margolin Aberjel and architect Peter Newman on Tuesday, 17 March 2026, at 16:30-17:30. This discussion takes place at The Lab, next to the Glass Tank, Abercrombie Building, Oxford Brookes University.

The discussion will be moderated by architect Peter Newman. Taking place at the lab, next to the Glass Tank exhibition space, this open event invites the public to reflect on the role of the architect beyond building as witness, as cultural agent, and as a voice in moments of political and moral rupture. Through drawing, Guy responds to the events in Gaza and to what he perceives as the silence of mainstream media in Israel. The conversation will explore the responsibilities of practice in times of crisis and ask what it means to act, or to remain silent, as a professional today.

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Guy Margolin Aberjel is an Israeli architect based in Haifa, a mixed city shaped by overlapping histories and lived realities. His daily architectural practice informs a broader engagement with the political dimensions of space. In his first exhibition, Guy employs architectural tools such as sketching, drawing and mapping as forms of activism and political inquiry, reflecting on questions of human rights and censorship. Guy graduated from his architecture studies at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and is married to Avivit, raising their 3 children in the city of Haifa.

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