The ADS was created in the aftermath of the 1948 Nakba by Jerusalemite intellectual Musa Alami. Alami's goal was to support the welfare of Palestinian refugees in the Jordan Valley by providing housing, agricultural opportunities and education, with the aim of fostering a sense of self-reliance away from the dependence on donor aid and foreign organizations. The installation will be built around film Al-Mashrou’, developed by Harb with architectural historian Nadi Abusaada, that combines historical with present footage. The film thus oscillates between an autonomous Palestinian future and the geographic and economic fragmentation produced by the unfinished, never fully realized Oslo Peace Accords, which resulted in a division of the ADS estate and continues to hinder access to one its primary sources for survival: water. The film's narrative is a profound reflection on self-sufficiency, resilience and the Palestinian struggle for autonomy in the post Oslo Accords era. By conceiving the work in both Palestine and Norway, the work and exhibition aim to create a conversation about how these distinct distant landscapes and geographies are now bound with a shared visions of the future that have now been interrupted.

Shuruq Harb is an artist, filmmaker and writer based in Ramallah. Her work has been shown internationally in various institutions and festivals. Her film The White Elephant received the award for best short film at the Cinema du Reel Festival in Paris (2018), and was shortlisted for the Hamburg International Short Film Festival (2019). She was the winner of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant of the Han Nefkens Foundation in 2019. Harb is also the producer of Al Mashrou’ (2024).

The film's production is generously supported through a partnership with Bergen Center for Electronic Art and their Off-Centred residency program. Additional funding was provided by Kawaser Cine (Palestine) and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy). Generous development support has also been provided by the Nordic Culture Fund, which will also enable parallel activities in Palestine with Sakiya. The exhibition is part of an expanded focus on presenting moving image-based works bridging the cinema and exhibition spaces at Kunstnernes Hus, funded by Fritt Ord and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.